Mad World
by Jeralee
Summary: Set 5 years before the events of Jurassic World. An intern arrives at the park to work closely with Owen and his raptors with the ulterior motive to sabotage the park from within. Owen x OC
1. Chapter 1

I didn't think I'd want to start writing something new, considering I have so many other stories on hiatus. But my god I had this massive urge to contribute to the newest Jurassic World movie which I saw today actually. That's how hooked I am on it. And I'm aware Owen/Chris Pratt is paired with Claire/Bryce Dallas Howard, so not sure if this fic will end up as an Owen x OC or I might just leave it alone.

I was so intrigued by Jurassic World because the existence of the park and all the attractions is a disillusion of something so sinister but it reflects how this age of consumerism makes us want things to be bigger, better, scarier, more teeth etc. It's true, I guess, just look at theme parks and all these variety shows we have on TV which get even more daring and bolder one after the other. And the thing is, people watch it because it's entertainment, they want entertainment, and corporations find ways to make money off this and to think of other ways to make more money. As long as the money rolls in, that's all that matters.

Anyways, this fic will not tie in with the movie, it's not an OC slotted in when Indominus Rex goes on her rampage. It's set before that, so a different kind of Owen and I'll see how it goes. How you enjoy ~

* * *

 **WELCOME TO JURASSIC WORLD**

When the interview invitation arrived through the post her mom was less than enthusiastic.

"You could get a job in, oh I don't know, some other research lab. Why did it have to be Jurassic World? Why not _Disneyland_?" was her argument.

It didn't deter her, however, and as soon as she saw the invitation, she was already packing her belongings for a two day trip. Now she was at the airport, her flight about to leave in an hour and a half. "Because Disneyland don't need paleontologists, mom." She said, "This is a dream come true. I've never had this kind of opportunity before. I'm really going to try and do my best – I can't let it slip past. I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Mom gave her a worried look but otherwise nodded a little bitterly. "Alright. And uh...the man who you'll be working for – "

"His name's Owen Grady, mom."

"Yes, Owen Grady, um, if there are any problems, come straight home – "

" _I'll be fine_ , mom. I promise." They exchanged a long hug before she glanced at her wristwatch – time to head to the gate. "Bye, mom! Wish me luck!" She made her way to security, waving, before disappearing behind the departure gates. Her mom watched her enter and stayed behind for at least five extra minutes before leaving.

Lindy was from a small town with big dreams; she was going to Jurassic World for an interview for a graduate job, a summer internship with Jurassic World where she would be working with living dinosaurs. Her CV would look amazing if she was successful. With those happy thoughts in mind, she boarded the plane and spent the entire journey thinking about the wonderful things she would see and get to do whilst also practicing some potential interview questions. The plane ride was meant to be a few hours, but it had gone so fast. She spent it watching a few in-flight movies and reading brochures about her new potential workplace.

Once they arrived, it was time to take the ferry to Isla Nublar where the park was situated. The queue was long, at least a half hour wait. The weather was scorching and she stood amongst large families and screaming children under the sweltering heat. Once the ferry arrived and the butterflies in her stomach truly began to manifest and she felt her in-flight meal stirring again in her stomach, making her a little ill. The ferry trip would be roughly forty five minutes and it was then she realized how isolated from the rest of the world Isla Nublar truly was; she threw a glance over her shoulder at the harbor which looked like a tiny speck across the horizon. Lindy stood at her spot on the top of the deck, crammed between eager tourists who were snap-happy as their boat finally came to a slow stop at the Isla Nublar harbor.

Once the tourists began to pour out, she followed the rest of the passengers to the front gate of the park. The queue was long but she skipped to the front with her newly acquired VIP pass. And once she arrived at the start of the long but linear path of Main Street, glancing around the numerous restaurants, gift shops and other facilities that were bustling with families and dinosaur-related merchandise, it finally dawned to her:

 _I'm in Jurassic World_.

Immediately, she grabbed her camera which she kept looped around her neck and snapped a few shots. She focused her lens on some stalls, some shops and finally, to some happy-looking families and their equally delighted children. She used her camera to zoom in and glance around, looking for the interviewer – Owen Grady – who wrote in the letter that he would be here to come pick her up (which she thought was strange for an interview but nonetheless did not mind or protest). It took a while until she spotted a man through the viewfinder with somewhat messy brown hair and sunglasses, donned in a casual blue shirt and brown waistcoat and matching slacks, and she lowered her camera. He looked dirty and gritty, coated in some flecks of mud and what looked like blood. He was unshaven, with thick stubble dotting his chin and a mustache. The man was sleeping on a bench with his head thrown back, mouth agape, limply holding a tablet that had her name etched on it.

 _Is that Owen Grady_? she thought, approaching him cautiously. Reaching out, she anxiously prodded at him in the arm. "...Excuse me...?" She said.

"...Zzzzzz..." He slumped to one side, still snoring, but otherwise, did not wake up.

" _Excuse me_." She tried again, poking him a little harder than the first time.

Finally, the man jerked awake and the sunglasses went askew off his nose. Glancing around groggily, he finally settled his eyes on her form and rubbed at his face with one hand. "Huh? What? Oh..." Glancing at the tablet in his lap, he scanned the name briefly and added, "Are you...Lindy?"

"That's me."

He looked at her from head to toe. A tall girl with long brown hair and blue eyes stared at him inquisitively in return; she was dressed in business attire – in a black blazer, white shirt, smart black pencil skirt and black heels with an equally smart black bag with gold strap. He raised a brow as he got off his seat to stand, shoving the tablet into his backpack before dusting himself, picking off some leaves and twigs from his clothes, "Name's Owen. Owen Grady. Er...Welcome to Jurassic World."

They shook hands and when they pulled away, she stared at her dirt-covered hand. "Thank you, it's great to be here, Mr Grady."

"This way." He grunted. She followed Mr Grady through the crowd and away from the tourists into another building – except this building was a little further away from all the sights and gift shops and was gray and drab in color and design. For employees only, perhaps. "And er...how was the journey?" He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"It was fine." She replied, "Long."

He chuckled a tad weakly, "Yeah." And with that, they simmered into silence following the rather drab conversation; it didn't help she was slightly nervous and something gave her the feeling that this Mr Grady didn't seem too thrilled to see her. She wasn't sure why, considering she was shortlisted for interview. It was Owen Grady who had shortlisted her, right? Not someone else...? He led her into the building where she saw it appeared to be a lab filled with employees in white coats and working on many large bones on display. "Over here." He called over his shoulder, when she had stopped to gawk behind the glass.

She hurried after him, trying to keep up, and eventually Mr Grady exited the building to the car park where she saw an abundance of vehicles ranging from cars to large four by fours. Meanwhile, Mr Grady went to a sleek black heavy-duty bike parked on its lonesome and swung one leg over one side, climbing on and inserting the key, twisting it. Turning to her, he revved the handlebars, making the engine roar.

"Let's go." He said, and she climbed onto the seat behind him clumsily, settling herself down with her bag clasped in lap. Awkwardly, she slid her arms around his waist when she saw no seatbelt. "Hold on tight."

When she clutched onto him, Mr Grady proceeded to steer the bike out of the parking lot and onto a grassy path, away from Main Street. She watched as they drove away from the general public and all the hustle and bustle.

"So, tell me about yourself." He shouted, having to speak louder over the noise.

"Um...I'm a recent graduate from Berkeley. I've been studying mostly vertebrates, paleobotany and – "

"Alright, any field research?"

"Yeah, I've been on one or two excavations."

"Uh-huh, and what are your qualifications?" He asked. She told him her grades and her degree result. He said nothing but kept nodding along. "And your health?"

"My health?"

"Yeah, how active are you? Do you play any sports? Work out? Swim?"

"I do some running in the morning. Swimming too."

"Okay."

Again, the silence returned. This time, she took the opportunity to marvel the beautiful landscape and the warm sun in the sky above them. The journey continued.

"Nice weather, huh?" He commented, as though reading her mind.

"Yeah. I read about the geography here – Isla Nublar is situated perfectly on one of the Tropics, enabling hot weather year round. Perfect for dinosaurs considering the earth's climate was similar to this all those millions of years ago."

"Impressive. Glad you dumbed it down. You'll fit right in."

"Huh? Oh." She muttered. Finally, Mr Grady stopped the bike, climbed off and she followed his actions, the thin length of her heels sinking into the squelchy mud. "Oh, no, my shoes..." She muttered, trying to pull her feet free.

He threw his glance over his shoulder, "Word of advice: invest in some hiking boots."

She gave him a wry smile in return; they had arrived at a metal structure – from the front, there appeared to be three walls and a catwalk above. The structure itself was outlined with an electrical fence. From the sign nailed to one of the walls of the structure before them, she saw the words 'Velociraptor Paddock'. Many men were already onsite, donned in casual wear and those at the catwalk were patrolling, carrying guns over their shoulders. She eyed the weapons a little uneasily until a loud screeching, a shrill chirruping noise emitting from the paddock made her completely stop in her tracks and she found herself gripping her handbag strap tightly.

"Welcome to the Velociraptor Paddock, Miss Lindy." Mr Grady said, as he walked up to the structure and patted one of the thick metal bars, "As part of the interview, I'd like you to meet Blue, Delta, Echo and Charlie."


	2. Chapter 2

**15/06/2015.** I forgot to mention some things:

1\. This story is a prequel, and set about 5 years before the events of the movie

2\. So we have a younger Owen (lol), a much young, perhaps even reckless Owen with a somewhat different attitude towards dinosaurs. In this chapter, I'll probably get some backlash but please know that I am completely aware of this and it's to show how different he is than in the movie

* * *

 **THE INTERVIEW, JURASSIC WORLD STYLE**

 _THREE WEEKS EARLIER_

"Whose bright idea was this? I don't need an intern!"

"That's not what PR thinks, or HR, Sales, or Marketing."

"I don't care what they think; it's got nothing to do with me!"

"Actually, Mr Grady, it does."

Claire Dearing really got on his nerves. There was something about her he didn't like. Sure, she had a nice face, and a nice figure, a nice ass... but goddammit the woman was a robot. She had a heart of ice, ruling Jurassic World with an iron fist under the guise as the park's Operations Manager.

Owen was sitting in the chair furthest away from her; he had been called into a meeting to see her in one of the many clean, pristine and massive, Olympus swimming pool-sized boardrooms. Ms Dearing sat at the very front and he struggled to hear her voice but he did hear the word 'intern' and knew the discussion wasn't heading to a great direction.

Ms Dearing handed him some brochures which outlined the park's activities and their promise to the consumer. "The recent construction of the raptor paddock and the surrounding research has gathered much public interest, but also, experts and the media are beginning to scrutinize us more and more thoroughly. They want to know how safe it is, they want to know where the taxpayer's money is going...and overall, the raptor project...we need to make sure it's credible and that it'll help contribute to the park some way. Therefore, we decided to create a few more job openings – one of them is a graduate internship sponsored by the University of Berkeley - the most prolific university specializing in paleontology. We need this to be a positive experience, and with their support and backup, it's completely to our advantage." She said, and he actually wondered if she had said all that without breathing or blinking for all that mattered. "So, what do you think?"

"...How long did it take you to remember all that?" He muttered, as he flipped through one of the university's brochure with little interest.

She gave him a dry smile. "Very funny, Mr Grady. I understand, in terms of your manner of expertise that you prefer to work alone; however, you've made an exception for Barry – "

"Yeah, cos he's not a moron unlike those other pricks you hired – "

" - so you need an intern."

"I don't."

"Yes, you do. We do." She nodded. "We've already started advertising. Interviews are taking place in a couple of weeks. I expect you to choose one lucky applicant. Just one."

He pondered for a while. "So what's the interview process?"

"That's completely up to you since technically you're the hiring manager. You can come up with all the questions."

And for the first time since the meeting started, Owen grinned.

* * *

 **PRESENT**

"Blue, Delta, Charlie...and Echo?"

"Yep. Well, maybe just Blue actually. If you meet all four at once that'll probably be too much for you to handle in one day." Mr Grady gestured her to follow him towards the paddock. "Barry. It's interview time."

She wondered who Mr Grady was talking to and the answer came when a tall man, who had been polishing one of the motorbikes that were propped up near a rifle stand, abandoned his post to approach them, glancing at Mr Grady before glancing at her. "Owen, not this again." He exclaimed in slight exasperation.

"It'll be alright. If they're damn serious about gettin' this job, then we'll let the girls decide."

"What?" Lindy croaked out.

As though oblivious to her confusion, Mr Grady replied with a grin. "Follow me, Miss Lindy. Oh. This is Barry by the way. Barry, this is Miss Lindy."

"This is madness, Owen! Ms Dearing will hear about this." Barry warned, but Mr Grady waved him off. Barry immediately followed him as Mr Grady sauntered to the large barred gate of the paddock with Lindy behind him.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Not everyone gets this chance, Miss Lindy, to get up close to a raptor." Mr Grady said, rubbing his hands together, "Are you ready?"

"Er...don't we need to prepare?"

"Like what?"

She looked up and around at the catwalk; the men carrying rifles and heavy artillery didn't appear too concerned at all. "...Is it safe?"

"Yeah. You'll be safe. You're in good hands."

"Okay."

"But you should probably take off those shoes." He suggested, gesturing to her muddy heels.

She hurriedly took off her shoes silently and left them in a heap at the side, leaving herself barefoot. Mr Grady gazed at her for some time, eyebrow raised. "Yes?" She asked, as his gaze lingered on her for what she believed to be, a little too long.

"Nothin'." He uttered, deciding not to comment that she had just listened to what he had said without even thinking twice, "Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Grady turned to Barry, nodding. "Are you sure about this?" Barry asked once more, his hand on the button.

"Yep. Hey, gimme me a rat. And make sure it's just Blue, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. You're still crazy." Barry repeated, but he grabbed said rat from a bucket hanging from a hook nearby on one of the walls and tossed a small, furry carcass to Grady, who caught it in one hand and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Open the gate." Grady commanded, and Barry pushed the button and the gate went up vertically with a mechanical whir. She watched as Grady proceeded to duck out underneath and she followed. "Stay close, okay?" Grady said, and she nodded.

Lindy stared at the grassy expanse before them which was shrouded with an abundance of shrubbery, trees and low fauna that she recognized to be native during the Cretaceous period. The walls surrounding them were very high, perhaps over twenty feet. She couldn't see any raptors but the chirruping seemed to be stemming from the far right of the paddock – and when Mr Grady let out a high-pitched, short whistle, the catwalk above them suddenly began to vibrate to an extent and as she stumbled slightly, Mr Grady offered her his arm, which she grabbed onto for support. Beneath them, the ground shook also, the trees rustled, the bushes swayed, and she could hear the sound of something fast approaching. Loud thuds were nearing their direction with such ferocity and speed and then –

A large and blurry horse-sized creature burst out of the undergrowth and stampeded into view, emitting shrill, chirping noises. It stopped as soon as its large amber eyes caught sight of them and Mr Grady lifted up a strange device in hand and he pressed on the little lever, creating little clicking noises.

"...What are you doing?" She whispered, from her spot beside him.

"Shh." He quipped, without looking at her. Instead, his gaze was purely focused on the impressive creature before them.

It was a raptor – a beautiful raptor with a blue sheen to its scaly skin. It was definitely at least the size of a horse, maybe even larger, its body streamlined for agility and speed. Lindy caught sight of its two little forearms that finished in sharp and smooth, rounded, sickle-like talons. Even its feet seemed to be a force to be reckoned with. The raptor was engrossed at staring at Mr Grady as he stood before it and soon, the raptor began squawking at him.

"Blue, there you are, girl." He greeted the raptor affectionately, mindful of Blue's lingering gaze on them. It took one step closer to them, and he immediately held up his hand, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it. _Hold_."

It was getting a little too close for comfort. Lindy stared at the creature before her, transfixed. Mr Grady was staring the raptor down without trembling or shaking. His voice was calm and collected. Lifting the dead, stiff rat out from his pocket, he held it up high with one arm. The raptor's eyes followed the article, recognizing it as food, opening its jaws slightly to reveal dozens of razor sharp teeth. A curious-sounding chirp escaped its throat.

"Stay. Stay there. Don't move." Mr Grady commanded smoothly, using his other hand to keep it still. A few seconds passed, and as the raptor did nothing except cock its head at them, he proceeded to toss the rat at its direction. "Good girl." He muttered, as it wolfed it down hungrily.

"That was..." Lindy croaked out, and suddenly, the raptor turned its head straight at them and shrieked loudly. She sealed her lips shut tight. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything...

Mr Grady took one step backwards as Blue inched towards them. "Don't move. No sudden movements, okay? Just stay calm." It dawned to her he was talking to her this time, not the raptor. "Are you calm?"

"Uh...Yeah...?"

"Don't panic. Just stay beside me. Hold onto my arm. Now, we're going to do this together. Do you trust me?" He murmured, as the raptor continued to gaze at them endlessly, its eyes on their form.

Her mind was slightly in shambles at the sudden tense situation that had arisen from nowhere. "Yeah." She said, and as he had instructed, she clutched onto his arm tightly.

"Okay, we're gonna go back, but we need to do this nice and slow. Easy...easy now..." Grady murmured under his breath, still not taking his eyes off Blue, "Take one step back. Don't look away. Keep looking at her. You need to show her you're in control here."

Lindy did as she was told, never taking her eyes off the raptor. The raptor seemed to deviate between looking at Grady, and her. What was happening at the moment felt so surreal.

"Good, we need to back slowly, but not too quickly..."

"L-like this?"

"...Yeah...nice and slow...nice and... _Barry, now!_ "

What happened next was a blur – Barry had slammed his fist on the button, sending the gate winding down and before she knew it, she was grabbed – Mr Grady had seized her with an arm secured around her waist and he had thrown them to the ground; they went rolling and Blue dived at them with her jaws, screeching loudly, but Grady and Lindy went rolling under the gate which closed in the nick of time, separating the hungry creature from the duo.

Blue went crashing against the thick metal bars, causing them to reverberate loudly and she quickly rolled back up, kicking up some dust in her wake, screeching horrifically at them. Her gaze focused on Grady and she exposed her fangs at him in a feral snarl before turning and sprinting into the trees, her bulky legs causing the ground to tremble with each step. Lindy stared at the retreating dinosaur in awe, mouth half-open.

"You can get off me now." said a muffled voice underneath her.

She gasped, glancing down to see that she was still on the ground, and she was conveniently lying on top of Mr Grady in a rather awkward arrangement. "Sorry!" She hurriedly scrambled off him to stand and Barry helped him up onto his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said, dusting himself down and patting at the front of his jacket. "Are you?"

She nodded. "What was that?"

"Training."

"Training?"

"Plus your interview. Fifty-fifty." He added, "You passed."

Her eyes bulged. "Whut...? I _passed_?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Grady said, "Every applicant we've had refused to go near Blue or any of the others. They tell me they want this job but they're afraid. An applicant saw one of the girls and fainted on the spot. Five screamed. Two even pissed themselves." Grady continued, as Lindy stared at him wordlessly, "You didn't do any of the sort. And that's why you passed. You listened to my instructions and you stayed calm. The job will need you to go into the paddock at some points, for research, check up. Anything. We'll move the girls elsewhere when this happens, but you still need to be comfortable. You can't be scared and you need to know how to handle the situation. Blue, Delta, Charlie...Echo...they'll know straight away. They'll know you're scared and they'll be all over you. Say for example, worst case scenario - you fell into the pen or dropped something and tried to pick it up – "

She nodded, knowing all too well what may have happened. "But...I _was_ scared, Mr Grady."

"'Course you were." He replied, "But there's still a difference. And you passed."

She couldn't believe her ears; all she could do was gawp at Mr Grady in shock.

"You okay to start next week?"

"N-next week? I mean...Yes! Yes!" Lindy said, nodding vigorously.

"Great. You should head back home to pack your things. We'll get the offer, your terms and conditions, life insurance, and your accommodation sorted out. You...er...you should still use that two-day pass and enjoy most of the park."

* * *

 **LATER**

"You did _what_?!"

"Calm, calm...easy now..."

"Don't you dare use your raptor training on me!"

"I'm not. It doesn't work with you."

Claire let out an agitated, frustrated noise at his aloof response and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. And I can't believe you let a candidate into the raptor den! A _raptor_ den! That's against the rules and regulations – not to mention, she could've used legal action against us!"

"Listen, I don't need some textbook poindexter for an intern, okay? There are plenty of those in the lab and I could just go in, go shopping for one, grab one off the shelves, whatever. I need someone who isn't afraid to go in and interact with the girls, to be able to establish a – "

"A 'relationship' with the raptors. Yes, I know. But Mr Grady, what you did was dangerous. That was beyond reckless. _Beyond_ stupidity. What were you thinking?"

"Relax, Ms Dearing. She did really well." Owen replied. Glancing outside the window of the boardroom where he could see Main Street and the bustling tourists; he caught sight of Lindy who was waiting in the queue for the underwater lagoon spectacle, to see the Mosasaurus Feeding Show. Watching her with a grin, he said, "I'll look forward to working with her."


	3. Chapter 3

**THE TALENTED MR GRADY**

Despite being inches away from potential death roughly a few hours ago since the interview, Lindy was having a great time at Jurassic World.

She stuffed her face with cookie dough ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, bought a bracelet for herself from Pandora, sipped a Mocha frappe from Starbucks and bought a pair of all-purpose spandex pants from the sportswear shop. The pants were a rather impulsive buy considering she wasn't sure for what reason she could use them for but they were on sale for a great price. Having completely forgotten about the raptors and her near-death situation, she roamed around the park with much content. With gift bags hanging off her arms packed with dinosaur-related goodies for friends and family, she had a Jurassic World baseball cap atop her head and she was balancing a large stick of candy floss in one hand and carrying a helium balloon the shape of a triceratops in the other. It made her cringe, especially when she saw a few children looking at her in a funny way, but they were handing out freebies at the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo and she couldn't exactly resist after she managed to pet and hand feed a few of the marvelous creatures in the pen.

A while ago and she saw the Mosasaurus Feeding Show, watching with mind-numbing trepidation as the ginormous beast lunged out from the depths of the crystal blue waters and snapped up the dangling Great White shark whole; she got soaked as it submerged, the water seeping down her back and to her butt even though she was donned in one of the plastic ponchos provided. Despite exiting the attraction drenched and soggy, her clothes dried up after she wandered underneath the hot weather for a few minutes.

The next attraction she went to participate in was T-Rex Kingdom. Squashed between a bunch of kids who had their noses pressed up against the glass and a young couple who were wrapped up in warm embrace, Lindy watched with wide eyes as the massive T-Rex nicknamed Rexy tore a bleating goat apart. She didn't know what was more disturbing, witnessing the goat's gruesome demise or hearing the children scream with joy.

Nevertheless, she wandered out after the feeding session and glanced at the next area on her map which she had not covered – it would be the herbivores, with attractions ranging from the Gyrosphere and Cretaceous Cruise. She hastily made her way to the Gyrosphere and waited patiently; once it was her turn, she sat in one sphere on her own, with Jimmy Fallon on the screen as her only companion through the easy ride.

Halfway through the ride and she thought, _I'l be working with Mr Grady from now on. I_ w _onder what it'll be like. Hmm, wonder how he's doing right now_. Abruptly, those thoughts scraped like a needle on a record. She had only met the man for less than half an hour and already she was thinking of him. Lindy pondered to herself, remembering how she had secured her internship. _I still can't believe I got it. This is crazy...I'll be living and working here next week..._

* * *

 **NEXT WEEK**

'Next week' went by way too fast.

It was now her first day and Lindy spotted Mr Grady waiting for her at the ferry landing with his hands in his pockets, looking slightly more casual than the last time she had seen him – he was chewing gum and wearing earphones attached to a music player hidden in a pocket. He wore a pair of aviator sunglasses and was dressed in a plain beige shirt and slacks but when he waved at her, her heart suddenly thudded a little erratically in her chest as she recalled the raptor-interview incident which ended up with her lying on top of him and his arm around her waist.

In addition, his shirt clung to him like a second skin.

Now that she had a decent look at him, she had to admit that Mr Grady was a rather attractive piece of man-candy. She also didn't think her boss would be so _young_. He was at least...a few years older than her, right? He wasn't older than her by a large amount. Brushing corrupt thoughts away, she made her way up to him, dragging her three bags and suitcase in tow.

"Hey." He said, grinning as he plucked out the little white earbuds.

"Hello, Mr Grady." She greeted him politely in response.

A silence followed and although his eyes were hidden behind the dark glasses, she realized he was staring at her, inspecting her from head to toe. She resembled a tourist even though she was dressed in casual attire (as outlined in her letter of induction), consisting of a white t-shirt and a pair of loose denim shorts. She had also taken his advice and invested in a pair of light tan Caterpillar boots. She brought her Jurassic World baseball cap too, which she had settled over her long brown hair. His gaze landed on her DLSR, a hefty Canon EOS camera that hung from her neck and over her chest on a thick cord, and she followed his gaze down to her chest. Lindy glanced up at him and he looked away.

Clearing his throat, he said, "Just call me 'Owen' from now on. Here, I'll carry those." And he reached over and took all three bags off her – balancing one bag on one shoulder, and holding two in hand – and he promptly began to make his way towards Main Street, leaving her with the suitcase. Lindy had struggled with those three bags - getting them on the plane and off the luggage carousel had been a hassle - and she scrambled after him, pulling the case behind her. The wheels got stuck in a crack in the sidewalk and she had to pull it out as quickly as she could to keep up with him.

"Mr Gr – err, I mean, _Owen_ , wait - it's okay, I can get those," She said hurriedly, "They're really heavy – "

"Relax, I got this." He said, as she managed to finally catch up to him, matching his pace.

"Thanks."

"Don't sweat it," came his jovial reply, "So, did you make use of your pass?"

"I did; it was really fun. I think I covered all the rides and attractions."

"What was your favorite?"

She thought for a while. "The Mosasaurus Feeding Show. I liked the Gyrosphere too, but the one I was in started malfunctioning at the end and kept spinning around and around in circles for about fifteen minutes. I ended up throwing up everywhere and they had to hose me down. It was really embarrassing." She said absent-mindedly, before she emitted a sharp gasp, eyes going wide, "Uh, n-not that you needed to know that!"

He laughed as she spluttered and stammered and her face went even redder. She had just blurted that out without even thinking twice. Embarrassed and horrified with herself, Lindy resorted to glancing at the ground silently and finally, their journey came to an end once they arrived at a familiar carpark lot and this time, she saw no bike; instead, Owen stopped before a humvee with an open top and the _Jurassic World_ logo stamped on the doors; he deposited her bags into the backseat and then took her suitcase off her and piled that on top of the seat, too.

"Sit wherever you like; shotgun, back... it's your call." He said, climbing into the driver's seat. Lindy chose to sit in the passenger seat beside him and he ignited the engine and steered out of the carpark lot and onto the grassy road. With the many bumps along the way, she had to grab onto the railing for support. "Oh, I almost forgot. You need to fill out these forms."

As he drove, he ducked to the side and grabbed a clipboard with pen attached by a stretchy string – immediately the humvee swerved and she had to cling on for dear life.

Reclaiming the wheel with his full attention, he handed her the clipboard next. "T-thanks..." She uttered shakily; she noticed that a few sheets of paper had some boxes that were already filled out in messy handwriting, namely her employee clock number. Trying to keep it balanced over her knee, she began to fill it out, pausing when he went over rough bumps and ridges, bouncing uncontrollably in her seat. "Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"It says here: ' _It makes sense to make sure your family don't suffer financially if you die. 'Masrani Global Corporation' Level cover helps give your loved ones a financial safety net, and gives you peace of mind in the event of death_ '."

"Yeah, that's the park's life insurance policy for all employees. You can take it or... y'know, go private."

The paragraph made her a little uneasy but she signed it regardless. "Are accidents common?"

"Not really, but accidents do happen."

"Such as?"

"Such as some guy getting squashed like a bug by an Apatosaurus, for example."

"Oh. I see." She replied. He said it so freely...

"Don't worry, that won't be happening to you anytime soon. You'll be spending most of your time with the raptors." Owen said, and finally, he was keeping his eyes on the road although he glanced around every now and then and finally, they drove past a lone, cozy-looking bungalow by the lake and he let the vehicle come to a stop. "Wait here a sec."

She watched him exit the humvee, grabbing her bags one by one. "What is this place?"

"This is where I stay. If you ever need me outside of work hours, you'll find me here. I'm just gonna drop your stuff off for the time being, alright?" Owen said, striding towards the bungalow; he arrived at the front door and rummaged around the pockets of his pants for his keys and fished them out, slotting them into the door and promptly disappeared inside with her luggage.

Lindy waited patiently. Two minutes. Five minutes passed. Seven. Ten. She checked her wristwatch before throwing her glance to the door, leaning out of the humvee. He was only dropping her bags off, right? What was taking so long? She decided to wait, and an additional five minutes passed.

Finally, the door re-opened and Owen re-emerged. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He said, slipping back into the driver's seat.

"Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah."

And they were back on the grassy road.

The drive to the raptor den was not long considering they were already halfway there, and once they had arrived, the man named Barry from before was there to greet them. However, the employees of the raptor den were not alone – two 'Jurassic World' cars were parked nearby – one black and one white - and as soon as Owen parked their humvee, he jumped out quickly, approaching the den. Lindy followed suit, trailing after him.

"Crap, not those guys again." She heard Owen mumbling under his breath.

"What is it?" Lindy asked. Up ahead, Barry approached them, joining Owen's side.

"Owen!" Barry exclaimed.

"Yo Barry, you remember Lindy, right?"

"Hello Miss Lindy, it's good to see you again." Turning to Owen, he added, "I could not stop them. I'm sorry. Ms Dearing gave them a permit."

"Figures. S'okay, Barry. Let me deal with them." He replied, as they made their way towards the paddock.

Lindy was confused. "Who are they?"

"Marketing." Owen growled, just as a thin man in a gaudy suede suit standing near the entrance of the paddock caught sight of Owen approaching them; the thin man smiled widely, holding his arms out.

"If it isn't The Talented Mr Grady! The Velociraptor Man!"

Owen stopped before him, his expression cloudy. Clearly he was not pleased with his appearance at all. "Mr Lloyd. What brings you here?"

The man named Mr Lloyd made a noise under his breath as he put a hand to his chin, "Our twelve o'clock meeting! Don't tell me you forgot? I brought some guests. You two – over here!" Lloyd turned to two men by the white van carrying suitcases. The duo came over and Lindy assumed they were the so-called guests. "Walk with me, Grady."

"We're good here."

"Suit yourself." Lloyd said; planting a hand on Owen's shoulder, he turned the man round to face the raptor paddock, using his other hand to indicate, "Imagine this, Mr Grady, I'm thinking bright colors. Pink. Blue. Yellow. A splash of green. Colors that make you feel happy and warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe a sunshine in one corner with lots of little rays around it complete with a smiley face. Some balloons over there too, you know, to make it more appealing to the children. Music. Tinkly music, like fairground music."

Irritated, Owen barked out, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mr Grady, we discussed this last week, remember?"

Owen grunted. "Right, the decorators. Nope. Nobody's 'decorating' anything without my permission."

"I beg to differ, Mr Grady. To tell you the truth, if you weren't already aware, your little raptor pen looks like a metal trap of doom, okay? It screams 'death' all around it and that's not the image we're supposed to be going for. The focus groups and our critics are saying it's not consumer-friendly."

"I thought Dearing told you that the raptor paddock isn't part of the park."

"Well, we need to look at things in advance. Maybe...five or six years? It's long-term planning, Mr Grady."

"And who are those guys over there?" Owen said, gesturing to two other men standing by the black van.

"Some investors. High profile clients. They're here for the demonstration."

With that, Owen scrubbed a palm over his unshaven face, having just remembered a promise he made to Claire a while ago about demonstrating the raptor's progress to potential clients.

"What's the matter, are you getting stage fright?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem? Just demonstrate something, like a trick."

"You want my girls to do little acrobatics for your boys over there? You want me to make them dance around, flip in the air, play dead?"

"...Can they do that?"

"No. They're dinosaurs, Mr Lloyd, not monkeys."

"Well, that's rather disappointing. What about the pig? I heard you use that to test their speed."

"No, the pig's not to – urgh, never mind." Owen rubbed at his cheek next. "...Fine. Whatever. Pig it is." He proceeded to address the rest of the employees in the paddock, pumping his fist in the air, "Alright, everyone! You heard the man! We're gonna release the pig!"

Owen's men promptly erupted into loud cheers; it was identical to watching a tribe. "THE PIG, YEAHHHH!"

Mr Lloyd regarded them a little warily. "I forgot you raptor boys were a slightly different breed of worker compared to the others..." He immediately began gathering the investors around. "Gentlemen! Prepare to be blown away by our very own Raptor Trainer, Mr Owen Grady! Watch as he assumes total, and I mean TOTAL command and utmost control over one of our park's most ferocious predators!" Turning to Owen, he growled under his breath, "You better not screw this up, ya hear?"

Owen ignored him. Glancing at Lindy and Barry, he said, "Lindy, stay here."

"Okay." She replied. _Everyone's so hyped up over a pig._

"Barry, let's do this."

Barry nodded, following Owen towards the paddock; both men scaled the catwalk with Owen stopping to stand at the very middle. Lindy moved forwards for a better look, peering between the bars and the mesh wire of the fence. She watched them discussing out of earshot and then Barry left the catwalk, presumably to the control panel. Lindy waited anxiously in her spot, grabbing her camera and observing through the viewfinder. Although her role was an intern, she had wanted to take a few pictures and snapped a few shots of the paddock's interior. As the ground shook, she lowered the camera, glanced around warily.

"Release the pig!" Owen yelled, in a rather dramatic fashion – and she quickly snapped a photo of him with his arms in the air. _Ooh, that one's a keeper_ , she thought to herself. She wasn't sure if that had been done on purpose considering how eager the investors appeared to be as they watched from the sidelines. Maybe Owen was just living up to their expectations or putting on a good show.

"Pig released!" Barry followed up.

No gate appeared to have opened but suddenly a little pink piglet came dashing past her field of vision, squealing. Shortly, she heard loud thudding and knew the raptors had been released. There was a slight breeze and she saw four shapes dash past her, growling and snarling. In seconds, they had covered a massive length of the paddock and Lindy abandoned her spot to keep up.

The pig sprinted underneath the catwalk; the raptors close on its trail. Owen stood, towering above them. Watching the raptors one by one, he proceeded to lift out the device she had seen him use before – the _clicker_ – as she would call it from now on, and she watched as Owen held it up. Once the pack spotted him however, they appeared to have stopped in their tracks before two turned on each other, snarling and shrieking.

"Hey!" Owen yelled, as a raptor with a prominent scar on it and the one known as 'Blue' began to snap at one another whilst the others screeched and rasped. "Echo, no!"

He clicked the device a few times and finally, the raptors watched him keenly, chittering.

"Steady. Steady now..."

The pack eyed him beadily in response.

"Eyes on me. Yeah, that's good. Now stay." Owen proceeded to command slowly, and the paddock simmered into silence but then –

The pig suddenly went running past, filling the terse but silent atmosphere with its helpless, loud squeals. Two raptors immediately took off, chasing after it whilst Blue and another – a murky green raptor – remained in their spots, eyeing Owen.

Lindy didn't have to think twice about what happened to the pig as the two raptors that went chasing after it were suddenly interested in one particular area of the paddock, stabbing at the ground with their jaws. The pig's squealing increased tenfold and she heard bones snapping, flesh tearing, and the scent of blood was strong and heavy in the air; the paddock fell silent once more. Mr Lloyd was quick to turn the two investors away from the scene as the creatures fought and bit and snarled for the food, "Right, that's enough! Don't you think so too? Let's go see the petting zoo, gentlemen!" Throwing his glance to Owen, he drew one finger across his own throat, a beheading motion.

Owen did not respond to the gesture; instead, he watched Lloyd and the investors and decorators leave the paddock and slid the clicker into his pocket before returning to ground level. The other men went to return the raptors to their dens.

"You okay?" Barry asked, as both himself and Lindy went to meet him.

"That didn't go too well."

"They're still young, Owen. It'll take some time." Barry said; he reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "Blue and Delta seem to be improving. They never really listen."

Owen gave a brief nod. "We're getting there, but we should probably focus on them individually for the next training session." Turning to Lindy, he dug his hands into his pockets and gave her a lopsided smile; she smiled in response. He said, "I saw you taking some photos back there."

"I do some amateur photography every now and then."

"Mm, care to take some pics of the girls some time?"

"I'd love to." She said, smiling widely now, "That was a good demonstration by the way."

"Meh." He replied half-heartedly, before he lifted one hand to rub at his stomach. "I'm hungry. Wanna go grab a bite to eat?"

"Now?"

"Yep. We'll pick something up while we're on our way to the office. I'm in the mood for hotdogs." Owen said, making his way towards their parked humvee. "Barry, wanna come with? Lindy's supposed to shadow you at some point. You can show her the ropes."

"Alright, sounds good." said Barry, and Owen hopped into the vehicle with Barry at the passenger seat and Lindy stared, intrigued. Owen Grady was a strange man; he could be serious and then completely laidback the next second. This man was going to be her boss from now on; she would be working closely with him and the raptors. At least he was easy-going, right? If he was strict and uptight, she supposed she would be a bit nervous...but he made her feel totally at ease.

With that thought in mind, Lindy found herself climbing into the backseat of the humvee, and they were off.

* * *

 **Note:**

Woot, first note at the end of a chapter :)

I didn't write it but yes there was lots of paperwork involved with Owen's stunt from the previous chapter lmao. Hmm so a bit of backstory to this fic...because it's set 5 years prior, the park and the employees are still in their early phases and overall, quite lenient towards certain things. Currently, Lindy holds this view too as she experiences the park as a tourist first. I've made Owen here rather carefree and relaxed. He still treats his work with the raptors seriously, but then there's also a bit of Star-lord inside of him (SORRY I COULDN'T RESIST XD). He dislikes marketing and those who treat their jobs and the dinosaurs as objects or business plans. At the moment, he also struggles to get most of the raptors to listen to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**GETTING TO KNOW YOU**

Working at Jurassic World was going to be very interesting.

Lindy was busy scribbling down notes whilst she sat beside Barry; Owen stood at the whiteboard in front of their desks which had four pictures of the raptors stuck over the surface by magnets. Using a backscratcher, Owen pointed at the picture of the raptor known as 'Blue' with a hotdog in his other hand.

"This here's _Blue_. You'll recognize her straight away because of the distinctive blue pattern on her body hence her name. She's infused with Black-Throated African Monitor Lizard DNA so she stands out from her siblings. Blue is also the Beta, the oldest of the pack." Owen explained, munching on his food, "When she was born, I imprinted on her, along with her sisters Delta, Charlie and Echo."

Lindy nodded, writing down everything he had said in bullet points on her pad. The 'office' was a small port-a-cabin that stood near the paddock and a port-a-potty that lacked air conditioning – Owen stood at the whiteboard with a little fan on his desk rotating in a one hundred and eighty degree ankle whilst Barry and Lindy sat at two desks before him. It was identical to a mini classroom, complete with dinosaur posters taped on the walls all conveying exciting facts and diagrams.

"Next, we have Delta. She was created using more avian DNA so from observations, her movements and actions are more bird-like – " Owen paused to take another large bite from his equally large hotdog, "She's more aggressive compared to her packmates and she's also the quickest."

Nodding, Lindy quickly wrote down the raptor's names and the key focal points: _Aggressive and quick_. "Got it."

"Now we have Echo. She and Blue once fought for control of the pack but unfortunately did not emerge victorious – " Again, he stopped halfway to take another bite. Tapping at the photo of Echo, he then said, "You'll recognize Echo from the scar across her face."

 _Echo – scar across face._ Lindy thought to herself as she jotted down as much notes as possible.

He pointed to the fourth and final picture. "And this lovely lady is Charlie. You'll recognize her from her green skin; this is because of her Green iguana DNA. Charlie is the youngest of all the girls and she's the most curious. She also respects Blue the most."

"We have the most problems training Echo and Charlie, because they are the youngest." Barry said, unfolding his arms from his chest to stretch.

"Ahh, but that's all gonna change." Owen said, pointing the backscratcher at his two-person audience, "We're going to try solo training. One on one. When they're all together, it's difficult to engage their attention and interest. I'm not saying we're going to completely disengage and separate the younger raptors from their sisters, but for now, we need to get them used to our instruction too before we bring them all together. When they're ready, we'll slowly merge more advanced training techniques so we'll cover all four at once."

"So...what kind of training do you carry out? What kind of methods do you use?" Lindy asked.

"Glad you asked, Miss Lindy." Owen replied, now using the backscratcher to rake at his back, "We use all kinds – obedience training, including nonaggression and socialization with humans. We also use positive reinforcement, which includes using primary reinforcers such as food or social reinforcer such as vocal...well, you know: "Good girl" and all that...or tactile ones, such as stroking, to get them used to human touch. Bridges to positive reinforcement include vocal cues, whistling and clickers – as you've seen by now." Owen proceeded to pluck out his clicker from his pocket and hold it up.

"How is 'nonaggression' coming along?"

"It could do with some improvement." came Owen's comment. "During your first week, Miss Lindy, we're not expecting you to jump right in and start walkin' and talkin' with the girls. For now, we'll have you conduct some research, carry out some observation, and perform some minor caretaking duties...Barry, that sound okay to you?"

Barry, who had been listening to Owen's lecture the entire time, nodded in agreement. "Of course. I wouldn't mind an extra pair of hands at all." With that, Lindy and Barry exchanged a smile.

"Great, then it's decided. Every week, we have these...er...get-togethers to discuss the girl's progress. Usually it's just me and Barry but now you'll be coming along too. Every Monday at 2pm. Don't forget, or else we'll have to drag ya."

"I won't."

Owen seemed pleased with her response. "Right then, let's cover some security measures." With pen in hand, she waited as Owen went to a space on the whiteboard and pulled off the lid of a green marker. "So, what do you think is the first thing you do if you accidentally find yourself in the paddock with the girls and there's no-one with you, no-one around you?"

Lindy glanced at Barry, then to Owen. "Um...Run and...Find a place to hide?"

He contemplated her answer for a brief moment, "Yeah, I guess that's right." He went to the board and wrote down 'Run' and 'Hide' in green marker and drew a tick. "You should find a place to hide. You can climb a tree, for instance. You could run... but it's still an enclosed area, so what else would you do?"

"Get someone's attention."

"How?"

"I don't know, yell or – "

"Wrong." Owen said immediately, slamming his fists over the table lightly, "Never yell. Never make any loud noise. You will get detected and they'll head straight for your direction."

"Okay." And she felt sheepish for her answer.

Using a red marker pen, Owen wrote ' _Noise_ '. Above it, he drew a big fat cross. "No noise. You should try and be as quiet as possible." Turning to her, he said, "C'mon, Miss Lindy, what else should you do?"

She pondered for a few seconds then said, "Find a way to disguise your scent?"

"Bingo." He wrote in green, ' _Disguise smell_ '. "And how would one disguise their scent?"

"Depends." Lindy said, "...On what kind of resources are available."

"That's true." Owen replied, "If you're near any vehicle, for example, best thing to do is to douse yourself with fuel; cut it from the pipe or something. If you're near a body of water, jump in."

"...What if there are no cars or water around?"

Owen put down the markers on his desk in front of him. "That's a damn good question, Miss Lindy. That's a damn good question."

...

Lindy's duties began immediately after she was issued an employee pass in the form of a swipecard and a key to her new locker in the office. Owen had gone over the raptor's paddock and activities in full detail, including their feeding schedule, the types of food they were fed, their sleeping times, daily exercises, the pig exercise, cleaning times, dental checks, body checks, paddock checks and the training. The training took most of the daily schedule, so the raptors were in contact with Owen pretty much 24/7. Her induction and training would take at least one to two weeks.

Once they returned to the paddock, Owen split up from the group. Assisting Barry, she was walking alongside him and holding two heavy buckets of water whilst Barry carried a few heavy-looking grainy sacks over his shoulder when she saw Owen a distance away, standing in front of a tall and beautiful woman with short ginger hair. Lindy paused in her tracks; they appeared close, although the woman had her arms crossed and she seemed to be berating him in some way.

"That's Claire Dearing, the park Operations Manager. She doesn't come here often, and if she does, it's never good news." Barry said to her in hushed voice, as though reading her mind, "Owen's fancied her since day one, but he's too stubborn to admit it."

As she followed Barry to the awaiting raptors, she couldn't help but throw a curious glance over her shoulder and suddenly – her foot got caught in a large grassy bump sticking out of the ground and her ankle went slant. "Eep!" She squeaked, as she tripped over with the bucket in hand but before she toppled to the ground, Barry grabbed her, preventing her from spilling some of the contents of the bucket over the grass.

The noise was enough to summon both Owen and Ms Dearing to her direction where they could see Barry helping her up. "You should be more careful, Miss Lindy."

"Sorry." She replied; glancing up, she could see Owen and the woman staring at her direction. Her face burned red with embarrassment. "Thanks."

"No worries. C'mon, let's go."

Once they approached the raptor enclosure, she could see that some of Owen's men had already managed to get the raptors inside a contraption where the magnificent creatures were stationed side by side only with their heads sticking out – all four raptors had their snouts within a steel muzzle that didn't appear to faze or hurt them. Instead, the raptors appeared to be rather used to this treatment and were allowing the caretakers to tend to them. As Barry and Lindy approached, the raptors appeared to have noticed their presence, their amber eyes following their every move. The raptor called Blue in particular, was gazing at Lindy.

"They know you're new." Barry said, "Don't underestimate their intelligence."

It was a little unnerving to be watched by a predator but as Barry stopped beside one of the raptors which she believed to be 'Charlie' and dropped the sacks to the ground, she stood beside him limply. "What is this anyway?"

"To perform routine check ups. Dental, eyesight, their senses. Sometimes we use this for feeding or drinking or we use it to take samples to bring to the lab."

She nodded and went up to Blue, peering at the raptor inquisitively. The raptor seemed to react to her presence by lifting its top lip, exposing her massive fangs and emitting a low snarl; she could see her reflection in Blue's amber eye and knew the raptor was watching her keenly. She put down her buckets of water and slowly reached forwards with her hand but then abruptly retreated. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to touch them yet or if she should even be thinking about wanting to touch them...

"If you want to touch her, go ahead."

Lindy gasped and turned round only to come nose to chest with none other than Owen. "Owen!" She exclaimed, stepping backwards slightly. He merely grinned as she threw a quick glance behind him. _Looks like Ms Dearing has left..._ Turning to Owen, she said, "Do they like being touched?"

"It's okay. Here, I'll help." He maneuvered himself behind her and took her arm; she blinked wide-eyed at the gesture and stared at him wordlessly as he scooped her hand in his.

"Owen, am I allowed to do this?"

"'Course you are. Blue doesn't mind. Isn't that right, baby?" Owen murmured affectionately.

Staring at the nearing hand, Blue struggled slightly in her confinements but when Owen guided Lindy's hand with his and let her palm plop atop the raptor's head, the raptor ceased her wriggling and stood very still. Lindy was startled by how smooth the skin texture was as Owen made her hand rake over the head gently. The raptor's body temperature was surprisingly warm, but she presumed it was potentially from the weather. She couldn't believe; she was stroking a raptor. Never in her life would she imagine that she was doing such a thing.

"Cool, huh?"

Lindy snapped out of her thoughts to realize that Owen had let go of her and she had been unconsciously stroking the raptor on her own. Immediately, she pulled her hand back, cradling it to herself and Blue emitted a low but shrill shriek. "Yeah...That was so cool. Now I can score this off my bucket list."

Whilst Owen grinned at her, Barry suddenly called from over his shoulder, "Miss Lindy just got here, Owen. Stop flirting with her."

"You're just jealous 'cos she's prettier than you, Barry." Owen remarked and in response, his companion let out a bark of laughter and as Owen passed, they exchanged a high five; Lindy watched as he sidled away from her side to check up on the other raptors before averting her gaze to her palm.

Oh yes, working at Jurassic World was definitely going to be very interesting indeed...


	5. Chapter 5

**LITTLE MISS LINDY**

It would be six o'clock when Lindy's first day would be over, and she flopped backwards onto the bench provided, sighing loudly. She was sweating buckets, having been stuck under the sun and helping Barry with the menial chores around the paddock from changing the raptor food and water, cleaning the pen and watching the raptor's behavior for a good hour or so and making notes. She did all these tasks with no complaint, although her stomach grumbled halfway through. Finally finished, Lindy slipped her feet out of her boots and rubbed at her aching feet. She'd been on the move the entire time, having to run or walk around and stand for lengthy periods of time. She had a really bad cramp in both ankles and wrists and the weather was not helping. Inside the paddock and the raptors didn't seem to mind, considering how vocal they sounded. She could hear them chirping and chirruping to each other. Meanwhile, Owen stood at the catwalk, issuing commands. He seemed fine, also.

"Day two hundred and eighty with no accidents!" One of the employees in one corner was yelling, "Good work, everyone!"

There was cheering all around the paddock but Lindy chose not to join in.

"Are you okay, Miss Lindy?" Barry asked as he passed her, carrying more feed sacks over his shoulders as though the weight and heat didn't bother him. "Are your feet sore?"

"It's just cramp. It should go away soon, Barry; thanks for asking." She replied, wiping at her neck.

"It's tough." He commented, "But you'll get used to it. I have something for the cramps if you need it."

"That sounds good."

"Great, remind me to bring it to you before we finish up for the day."

"Thanks." She said, watching as he disappeared into the raptor's storage pen where he deposited the sacks in one corner and grabbed a checkboard affixed off the wall, scribbling something down with the pen provided. Lindy glanced away from Barry and to Owen; _he's been training them all day_ , she thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow with a tissue. It was roasting and she finally understood why everyone here dressed so casually ranging from vests to board shorts. Having to stay under the sun all day long meant it was not wise to be in a shirt or suit or any kind of inappropriate shoewear. She was grateful for her boots all of a sudden and proceeded to lie on the bench to rest for a brief moment.

She watched as Owen finished up with the raptors, or the 'girls' as he affectionately called them. He noticed that she was glancing at him and he grinned at her direction, then returned to the catwalk, in a seemingly good mood; Lindy was stretched over the bench, panting, although once she spotted him emerging into view she immediately bolted upright, not wanting to have been seen slacking off even if it was for a short period in time.

He didn't seem too bothered by her resting, however. "You don't look so good, Miss Lindy." Owen said, "Want a lift to the dormitory?"

"I think my luggage is still in your house." She pointed out.

"So they are." He said, before he dug a hand into his pockets and fished out a pair of keys. "C'mon, let's go then. The rest of the boys will tidy up."

Nodding, she peeled herself off the bench and trotted towards him. He watched her for a few seconds before grinning, "You look beat."

"S-sorry. I'm okay, honestly."

"S'alright. It's your first day and this isn't the easiest job in the world." He patted her on the shoulder, "Take it easy."

She nodded again. Before they headed to the humvee, Barry handed Lindy the medicine for cramps and she thanked him and bade him goodnight to which Barry responded with a polite 'See you tomorrow morning'. Owen climbed into the humvee driver's seat and found his sunglasses in the glove compartment which he proceeded to put on. Lindy was left to squint as the sun glared in her face. Owen steered the humvee out of the paddock and onto the road, back towards the direction of his bungalow. The journey was silent, with the humvee going over bumps in the road.

"You'll be staying in the employee's dormitory from now on." He said all of a sudden.

"Is it communal?"

"You'll probably need to share the bathroom and the kitchen or something. That okay with you?"

"Yeah. I lived in the university dormitory with three other people so nothing new."

"Do you have any family, Miss Lindy? Any brothers or sisters?"

"I'm an only child. It's always been myself and my mom." She replied, and she wondered if she should ask Owen the same. No harm in asking, right? No harm in wanting to get to know the boss better, correct? "What about you?"

"...Hm." was his reply, "And where did you live?"

 _He didn't even answer my question!_ She thought. She told him where she used to live as requested. Determined to find out a bit more about her new employer, she asked, "How long have you been working here?"

"Just a couple of years."

 _At least he answered that one._

"I was in the navy." Owen continued; occasionally, he would turn to her as he drove when he spoke, "And when I left, I was headhunted. They heard about me there and how I spent my time training new troops."

"Humans and raptors are very different though." Lindy said, "I'm surprised you aren't afraid of them."

He chuckled loudly. "When you've been through what I've been through, nothin' really scares you anymore."

"But every day can be dangerous."

"My job in the navy was dangerous too. I faced danger every day. Makes no difference to me."

She pondered his words for a while but ultimately deduced: _He must enjoy living life in the edge._ "You're a very brave man, Mr Grady." She said, before she realized how she had addressed him. With a gasp, she turned to him, "Sorry, I mean – "

However, Owen merely chuckled loudly. "And you're a very brave woman too, Miss Lindy."

Once Owen had drove to his bungalow, he fished out all her bags and suitcases from within, loaded the humvee, and they were off again. The dormitory was further away from the paddock than she realized and she wasn't sure if she was going to like staying there considering she would need to have access to a vehicle to get to the paddock in time each morning.

The dormitory appeared to be a small building that resembled the typical roadside motel. It was two stories high, all lined with doors and windows. With swipecard in hand, she found her door and unlocked it; the room was musty and stale from the heat and she switched on the light to reveal a small room with a single bed in the middle, a flatscreen TV attached to the wall, a desk and chair and mirror and a tall lamp standing in the corner. Another door at the far end revealed an en-suite consisting of toilet and shower.

She stepped inside and Owen followed shortly. "Looks nice." He commented, as he propped her bags and suitcase in one corner.

Lindy was also surprised that her accommodation was far more spacious than she had imagined. It was basic but still generous. Turning to Owen, she smiled at him aloofly as he marveled the interior. "Thanks for the lift."

He grinned. "Will you be okay for tomorrow?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine. I remember the way to the paddock."

"Great." He replied, "Well then, goodnight Miss Lindy. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

"Night."

"Goodnight." She closed the door after he left, peeping inbetween her blinds to see him climb into the humvee; he seemed to shoot another glance over his shoulder at her door and she quickly ducked away from view, and she heard him start the engine again after a few seconds. When she deemed it safe, she left the window. Glancing around her room, the first thing she did was kick off her boots and sweaty socks, leaving them on the floor in a messy pile. Then she grabbed hold of the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it off herself, dropping it carelessly on the bed, then she began to unloop the belt on her waist and pulled down her denim shorts to her ankles and then -

The door opened.

"By the way, I forgot to - "

Lindy glanced up and swerved her gaze over to see Owen at the door, hand on the knob. He seemed to have stopped in mid-sentence once he got an eyeful of her dressed in nothing but her bra and panties. "ARGHHH! OWEN?!" She screamed, covering herself with her arms and diving for the bed, getting her feet tangled within her denim shorts in process and tumbling in mid-step. "Oof!"

She couldn't see him, but she could hear him spluttering somewhat: "It's okay, it's okay! I didn't see! I didn't see much!"

"Much?"

He could see her bare feet sticking out, still stuck in her shorts. Owen blinked blankly at the scene, but then he couldn't help but grin at the comedic side of it all. A fraction of a second later, he shook his head, scrubbing a palm over his face. _Whoa, no, no, no grinning at a time like this. Stooop._ Clearing his throat, he said as calmly as he could, "Honestly, Lindy, I didn't see a thing - Sorry, I shoulda knocked." He hastily dropped off what he had forgotten on her nearby desk, "See ya."

The door slammed to a close and Lindy glanced over the bed and to the door. He was gone. For a few seconds, she did not move, but this time she definitely heard the humvee leave the premise. Lindy tiptoed out and proceeded to lock the door, her cheeks warm with embarrassment. She then checked what he had left behind – it was a map of the park which would definitely come in handy.

 _What a day_ , she thought, folding the map away, _Well, lesson learnt. Number one, always lock the door. Number two, don't immediately get undressed to your underwear. What a crazy day..._

After she unpacked all her belongings, she grabbed her nightwear and jumped into the shower. Once that was done, she switched on the TV – albeit she wasn't surprised to see various Jurassic World channels. No doubt, this was playing on every hotel TV right now. She sat cross-legged on the bed, drying her damp hair with a towel and flicking through her photos on her DLSR camera. Suddenly, she heard her cellphone ringtone chiming and quickly plucked her phone out from her bag; she kept it on silent the entire time and saw on the screen that an unknown number was calling her. She accepted the call as quickly as she could, holding the phone to her ear.

"Hello." She said.

"So, how was it?" said a male's voice from the other end.

"It was good, very interesting."

"Did you get anything?"

"Nothing really." She replied, as she put away the camera to one side to hold the phone closer over her ear, "They don't seem to have any problems using live animals as bait, that's for sure. The animal rights activists will go crazy."

"They're already protesting so that's nothing new."

"What do you propose?"

"We need a death. A human-related death. I want a T-rex to kill and eat someone. A raptor to tear someone's arm or leg off. I want the Mosasaur to swallow someone whole. I want something big. I know something like that has already happened before, but this is Simon Masrani we're talking about."

It took her a while to reply. "T-that wasn't part of the plan."

"Lindy," The man chuckled, cooing at her as she stammered over the phone, "Lindy, Lindy, naive Little Miss Lindy. Haven't you heard the saying? _Sacrifice one for the good of many_. There are billions of humans on this planet...so one less doesn't really matter, does it?"

* * *

 **Note:**

And the plot thickens :D


	6. Chapter 6

**23/06/2015.** Hi everyone, thanks for the amazing support and feedback. Thanks to those who add this story to their favs and alerts. I've been having problems with alerts but I hope you guys continue to check out the board when I update. I'll try again today. I guess I update quite early so afterwards as more stories update my story gets shoved to like page 3 or 4 or something lol.

I decided to alter some of the plot to add more depth to the story. So plot has changed from 'an intern arriving and becoming disillusioned with the premise of the park' to ' _an intern arriving at the park with ulterior motives_ '.

Anyway after the first page break the story skips to one week later hence today's chapter title 'Day 287'. Enjoy! :)

* * *

 **DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SEVEN**

"Aw, come on, I got tickets for us both!"

"I'm busy on that day, Mr Grady, and unlike yourself, I have commitments to the park. I can't just leave - "

"Then how about dinner? I know a great burger place on Main Street."

"Thanks for the offer but I'm scheduled to attend business dinners for the rest of the week." Claire said hurriedly as she stormed down the corridor with Owen a short distance behind her; he had two tickets in hand, which had taken some effort to grab hold of. He threw his glance to the little flimsy pieces of paper in hand and proceeded to stuff them into his pockets.

"Okay, so what do you want to do?"

She finally stopped in her tracks and turned to him on her heels. Unbelievable. Owen Grady was trying to ask her out; not that this surprised her considering he did take every opportunity to make a pass at her. Owen asking her out would happen someday, and this someday happened to be today. He did, unfortunately, have bad timing since her diary was chock-full of business meetings one after the other from early in the morning until late in the evening. Once their eyes met and they leveled gazes with one another, he grinned and she crossed her arms over her chest, "...If I get Zara to check my diary, will you let me get on with my work?" She said; despite the words used, there was no malicious undertone aimed at him. In fact, she sounded more frustrated and exasperated with his persistence.

He shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

"Fine. I'll check. Now if you excuse me, I have an important meeting with the chairman. Goodbye, Mr Grady."

"Alright then, let me know. See ya." Owen said, shoving his hands into his pockets with a grin. He watched as she disappeared down a set of double doors, shaking her head.

* * *

 **ONE WEEK LATER**

 _She never got back to me._

"Owen?"

 _Hmm, maybe I should ask again?_

"Owen!"

"Huh? What?" He snapped out of his thoughts; Lindy stood in front of him with her notepad and pen in hands. "Lindy? What is it?"

"We were going over the function of zygapophyses and you went all quiet. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Uh...what does zyg...er...what does that mean again?"

"The articular processes of their tail."

"Right. I gotcha. Let's go over something else." He said, "...Actually, before I do that, I got a question."

"What is it?"

"...What does it mean when someone doesn't get back to you? You know, after you've tried asking them out?"

The question surprised her but then she started to giggle. "Ohohoho, you're asking me for relationship advice?"

"Er..." He rubbed the back of his head, "This is highly unprofessional, I know...and I'm sorry, but it's really been bugging me."

She waved her hand dismissively. "No, no, it's okay. I don't mind at all." She put a hand to her chin next, "Hmm, so if they haven't gotten back to you after you've asked them out...maybe they're just really busy? ...Or they're just not that into you."

He pondered for a while, then nodded. "Alright then." Just then, the raptor beside them emitted a shrill cry and both Owen and Lindy turned to her. "Let's get back to work." He muttered, and Lindy nodded.

 _I wonder what happened to him_ , she thought to herself, _Maybe he tried to ask Ms Dearing out._

Owen and Lindy stood in a sectioned-off area of the paddock where a single raptor stood still in the middle for a check up, held down on its spot by metal clamps fixed firmly to the ground that stretched over its talons, forbidding movement. Its snout was also encased in a muzzle and its forearms were restrained to its body with thick elastic, preventing the raptor from using its claws. Despite how awkward and strange it looked, the raptor didn't seem to mind at all and were watching the duo keenly.

They were going over anatomy: Owen had been demonstrating to Lindy who was busy writing down notes. "Good girl, Delta..." He was crooning as he stroked the raptor's back affectionately.

Delta merely emitted a low chirp from the back of her throat and shook herself slightly as Lindy came over; it was eyeing her as she planted her palm over its thick hide. "She's magnificent." Lindy murmured, "But doesn't that hurt them?" She patted the raptor gently and gestured to its restraints. It's pelt was thick and sturdy, bumpy and rigid with lumps. Compared to Blue, Delta's features were far more haggard and rough than her older sister.

"Nope." Owen confirmed; he turned to the raptor's face, holding her snout in his hands. Delta stared at Owen for a long time as he inspected her and she snorted out a breath from her nostrils, her tail rising up and down steadily. "Alright, baby, you're lookin' good..."

"According to my studies," She said, "Some species of Velociraptor aren't supposed to be this big and they were covered in feathers."

"Unfortunately, chicken-sized dinosaurs covered in feathers aren't very popular with the public." Owen replied with a grin.

"So they removed the gene – the features - _completely_?"

"It's more like they replaced it."

"With more teeth and bigger claws." She replied in a hushed murmur, gazing at Delta's massive talons as the sickle blades scratched up some dirt on the ground. "I suppose some people have suggested training the raptors to be steeds?"

He nodded, patting Delta carefully and making her chitter loudly. "Yeah. Marketing, PR, Sales. The usual."

"I think they serve a better purpose than to be used as horses."

"There's been a rumor," Owen said, "InGen Security have suggested that the girls be used as guard dogs."

"Guard dogs?"

He nodded. "It's an unusual idea, but not new or surprising."

"And how do you feel?" She asked, "About all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well...your job is to train the raptors but you're the one who's closest to them; people seem to have different purposes for them and they don't seem to care about what you think. Have they ever consulted you? About your opinion?" Lindy said, recalling the scene when the gaudy man named Mr Lloyd was talking to Owen about 'decorating'. "What do you want to do with them?"

Owen studied Lindy for a long time, "...Nobody cares about what I think as long as I keep my head down and do my job. But Blue, Delta, Charlie and Echo...they will always be my girls, and I want them to find their own purpose together."

Contemplating his words, she said, "Good answer."

...

It started raining nearer the end of the day and Owen woke up from his nap at the loud clap of thunder and lightning outside. Stretching from his swivel chair, he rubbed at his eyes and threw his glance outside – indeed, the sky was gray and dark and the windows were slashed with dozens and dozens of thin wet lines from the rain. How long had he been asleep? He'd been training the raptors all day and then went inside here to rest. Owen shifted his gaze to the clock on the wall where it was ticking loudly. It was five thirty in the evening. He'd been asleep for two hours and a half.

"Nngh..." He got up and exited the office, closing the door behind him and stepping outside.

The tropical rainstorms in Isla Nublar was unnatural, making the atmosphere humid and heavy and stiff with a certain type of muskiness. Each raindrop was heavy and loud and as he looked up at the darkening skies above, he could see blurry white flashes of lightning amongst the stormclouds. "What the hell...?" He muttered under his breath, covering himself with a hand over his head to shield himself from the rain. Storms in Isla Nublar had been nasty but not _this_ nasty. He hastily returned to the paddock, passing more employees who were also struggling against the weather, and he jogged up to the main gate where he could see one lone employee standing at the control panel.

"Mr Grady." greeted the employee; it was the young pig boy – or the one who was known to open and close the gate for the pig and the corresponding exercise. His job was more than that of course but everyone just called him a pig boy since then.

"Where's Barry and Miss Lindy?"

"They're still inside the pen."

He squinted his eyes through the bars, trying to peer inside the paddock where he could see the trees and bushes being battered by the fierce rain and wind, the ground muddy and slushy. "How long they been in there?"

"About an hour."

"Call them back in; the weather's terrible. They can check up on the paddock another day."

"Alright." The pig boy went to the tannoy and pushed down on the button, but nothing seemed to happen.

"What's wrong?" Owen asked, as the pig boy pressed on the button several times only to elicit no response, "Is it not working?"

"I'm not sure."

Suddenly, the bushes a distance away parted and Barry emerged, carrying a bucket and large spade in hands. "Hey, Owen."

"Barry!" He went up to the gates and the pig boy went to open the gate for him to a small extent – enough for someone to squeeze through if they were lying on the ground – they rolled up vertically although they appeared to be struggling slightly. "It's just you?"

"Is Miss Lindy not back yet?" Barry said; he appeared confused as he headed towards the gates, having to yell above the deafening downpour. "We split up to cover more ground; we were meant to meet here at half past."

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

"I'm sorry, Owen."

"No, it's alright. Where could she be?"

Barry approached the gates but just before he ducked underneath – there was a flash of lightning, making contact with one of the antennas that was fixed on top of the raptor den near the paddock's electricity generator. There was a loud 'crack!' and a loud fizzing noise, before smoke gradually began to emit from the antenna; immediately, one of the raptor stalls opened, swinging open weakly with a low creak. Loud snarling could be heard from within before the door nudged open even wider and a green raptor came stampeding out.

"Shit!" Owen cursed, as Barry's eyes widened; Echo came bursting out from her pen, shrieking at Barry who immediately ducked under the gate and towards safety. Owen helped him back up just as Echo stopped herself in the nick of time, slipping her snout between the bars. He held his hand up to the raptor as she hissed at them. "Echo! Easy, easy..."

The raptor growled viciously from the back of her throat until the bushes rustled nearby; Owen whipped his head to the source of the noise to see Lindy emerging out, wiping at her forehead with the back of her hand. "Phew! That was a – oh." As soon as she spotted the group; she took a step backwards in muted shock – turning to her, Echo emitted a hiss and was off, charging towards her direction.

"Echo!" Owen yelled, "Echo, _no_!" But the raptor proceeded to ignore him and Lindy whirled on her heels, sprinting back the way she had come out from, disappearing into the bushes. Echo followed, screeching before she promptly vanished from view. "Lindy!" Owen rolled underneath the gates, getting up to stand. Thunder crashed behind him, lightning flashing. The wind was strong, tugging him in random directions and throwing rain at him relentlessly.

"Owen, what the hell are you doing?" Barry exclaimed, but Owen was rushing towards the direction where Echo and Lindy had headed, sprinting into the bushes and avoiding low branches.

"I'm going to get her!" He yelled, although most of the storm was drowning out most of his voice, "You stay there and make sure no other doors open! And make sure no-one shoots Echo!"

Turning to the pig boy, Barry exclaimed, "What's going on? How did the door open?"

"I-I'm not sure, sir, but I think the storm's tampering with the power." spluttered the boy, "Sir, what should we do?"

"Spread the word – tell them that Owen has gone into the paddock to look for Miss Lindy," Barry said, "But no-one is to fire or make any noise, okay? Owen can handle this and he will bring her back safely."

"Got it."

"Off you go then."

"Yes, sir!"

...

Deep inside the paddock, Owen navigated his way around slowly and anxiously - every wiggle of a tree branch and every wavering bush made him stop in his tracks, his eyes darting from left to right as he assessed the area. When nothing happened, he continued. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead and rolled down his temples and he swallowed down the heavy lump that made its presence known in his throat one after the other. High above and the sky was flashing every now and then from the lightning that was hidden behind the gray clouds. Echo could be anywhere. She should be able to smell him, or maybe she wasn't able to due to the rain. He was soaked and drenched and his boots were squelching against the wet, slushy mud. The only noises he could hear were the howl of the wind and the battering rain.

 _Where are you, Lindy?_ He thought to himself with much unease. _At least she's remembered the security measures – never yell or make noise to attract attention..._

He hadn't heard any screaming and he couldn't smell any blood – that was definitely a good indicator.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a twig snapping and immediately found refuge behind a thick cluster of luscious green fauna, peering out between a few leaves. Someone passed him, taking slow and cautious steps and he knew immediately – reaching out, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bushes with him, his hand clamped around her mouth as she fell into his lap with her back to his chest. She seemed surprised to see him, blinking wide-eyed at him in shock. He put a finger to his lips before letting go of her.

"...Owen...?" She whispered, "Wh...what are you doing here?"

"I came to get you." He whispered in response, and he saw her face crumbling into an undecipherable expression.

"Thank you." She muttered, her cheeks going a little pink. He didn't notice as he rose slightly, yet squatting as low as possible to the ground, hidden by the bushes. "What happened anyway? How did the raptor get out?"

"Probably the storm."

The phonecall sprang into her mind: _"_ _I want a T-rex to kill and eat someone. A raptor to tear someone's arm or leg off. I want the Mosasaur to swallow someone whole. I want something big..."_ She bit her lip anxiously, _Could this be a coincidence though?_

"C'mon, let's get outta here." Owen added, "We'll stay low to the ground. She shouldn't be able to detect us."

She nodded warily; he could tell she was nervous judging by how restless she was.

"Stay close to me. Take my hand."

"Okay." Lindy reached over and slipped her small, wet and muddy hand into his thick, rough palm. Her hand was slippery but he clutched onto her as tightly as he could. "Owen...if I don't make it...tell my mom I love her, please? A-and Spooky, my cat...will you also tell her I love her too?"

"C'mon, Miss Lindy. Don't talk like that; this isn't like you. We'll make it. Trust me, alright?" He squeezed her hand tightly, "Do you trust me?"

Glancing at their entwined hands, she looked at him, their eyes meeting. Sucking in a breath, she proceeded to nod vigorously. "I trust you."

"Good."

Guiding her towards the direction he had come from, he stopped occasionally and she would stop also. They heard shrill screeching nearby and then the ground shook and a dark figure could be seen darting past, zipping further into the trees. The raptor was heading away from them. Inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued making her way with Owen at the front, leading her. The entire time, her stomach was a tight knot. She wondered if he could feel her heightening pulse since he was holding onto her so tightly. She wondered how he could stay so calm in a situation like this.

"We're almost there." He whispered, "We're faring a lot better than the pig."

She peered over his shoulder inquisitively; there were the gates. Barry stood behind, gripping the horizontal bars tightly and having spotted them, quickly began motioning them to hurry. Once they had neared the edge of the bushes, only a large empty space of muddy ground was before them, separating them from the gate. No trees, no bushes, no cover. The gate was still three-quarters closed and leaving a small space for them to squeeze through. If they were quick, they could perhaps run and roll underneath to safety.

"Right, how are we gonna do this?" Owen muttered to himself, "She could be anywhere." Glancing at Barry expectantly, he gestured with his hands and Lindy hovered beside him, waiting anxiously. Meanwhile, Barry was glancing around and indicating them to stay, but a few minutes later, he finally made a motion with his hand, silently indicating to Owen. "Barry's giving us the all clear." He muttered, "Let's go."

She nodded and with her hand in his, they crept out of their hiding spots and into the open. He squeezed her hand and they were almost at the gate and they were about to make it but then –

Echo came bursting out from the trees, screeching.

Abruptly, Owen skidded to a halt, shoving Lindy behind him. Barry stared helplessly from the gates and was about to duck under but Owen held his hand out, shaking his head. Turning to Echo, she hissed and shrieked at him as she approached. Her amber eyes flashed brightly, her piercing gaze lingered on their forms.

"Echo... _Echo, stop_." Owen began; his gaze never left her, but this time his words appeared to land on deaf ears. The sky boomed - there had been a loud clap of thunder, lightning flashing. Rain splashed over them and Owen and Lindy inched backwards as Echo continued to creep closer, exposing her fangs. He could feel Lindy holding him tightly from behind, her fingers digging into his shirt. "Echo, c'mon..." Owen tried again, "Easy, girl...easy - "

He was cut off when Echo dived for them and Owen threw himself over Lindy but loud gunshots could be heard ricocheting against the ground and the raptor stumbled in its path, emitting an ear-splitting growl.

" _Owen!_ " cried a voice from above and they could see some of his men at the catwalk with their guns pointing at the raptor. There were a few shouts and yells, followed by more gunshots and Echo screeched at her attackers as they fired shots near her feet in an attempt to distract her. Without further delay, Owen grabbed Lindy and they ran as fast as they could for the gates, lunging for the gap and rolling to safety on the other side; his hand was clutching hers firmly the entire duration. Barry slammed the gates to a proper close once they were safe, the metal grinding loudly. Immediately, the gunshots ceased and Echo could be seen trying to snap her jaws at the snipers who were stationed at the catwalk with their guns; she was growling and snarling before taking off into the safety of the trees again.

Panting, Lindy sat up, caked in mud and drenched all over; glancing at Owen, she went to his side and inspected him thoroughly. To her relief, he didn't appear hurt at all. "Owen? Owen!" She exclaimed.

He grumbled, opening his eyes before pushing himself to sit up and off the ground using the back of his elbows. Once his head stopped swimming, he blinked slowly at her. "Lindy..."

"Are you okay?"

"...Yeah...Are you?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Thank goodness." She proceeded to breathe out a huge sigh of relief.

Averting his gaze from the girl to Barry, he said, "What the hell was that all about? I specifically ordered no-one to use their firearms. Who went all trigger happy back there?"

"That would be _me_."

Another voice had entered the foray; everyone glanced over to see a man donned completely in black attire standing at the entrance of the paddock, carrying a rifle in hands. His uniform had a badge that said _InGen_. He was of medium-height, possessing a rather lean, muscular build with those thick arms and broad chest. The man pulled off a pair of goggles to reveal a rugged but handsome, chiseled face. He averted his gaze from the disgruntled-looking Owen to Lindy, who was staring at him in bewilderment. "By the way, you're both welcome."

Owen sounded defeated as he grunted out, "It took me years to build up a relationship, Bates. _Years_."

The man named Bates helped him up, grabbing hold of his arm firmly and lifting him to his feet, "I'll take that as a 'thank you'," He said, "Just be grateful you're still alive and in one piece, Grady."

* * *

 **Note:**

It's still Owen x OC but for now, Owen's still trying to get that first date with Claire lol. 'Tis complicated :( PS I imagine Bates to look like Tom Hardy. He's a stud too phwoaar!


	7. Chapter 7

I am having way too much fun writing this story XD Thanks for the reviews and support! And now I've added Tom Hardy. I wonder if I am allowed to do that in a fanfiction. Probably not. I also just remembered I never put down a disclaimer so I'll do it now -

 **I don't own Jurassic World, Chris Pratt, or Tom Hardy.**

PS Apologies for the porny-sounding chapter title but this story is rated T (for now).

* * *

 **A NIGHT WITH OWEN**

After the ordeal, Owen drove Lindy to her accommodation only for her to find that the electricity was not working and there was a leak in her ceiling, covering her floor in a thin layer of water. Whilst she panicked inwardly, Owen hastily called Claire only to get through to her assistant, Zara.

"Hello? Oh, it's you. How may I help you, Mr Grady?"

"I need to talk to Ms Dearing."

"I'm afraid she's in a meeting."

He quickly explained what had happened to the raptor paddock and the state of Lindy's room. "I just need to talk to her for five minutes; do you think Ms Dearing can rearrange for my intern to stay at another place – "

"I'm sorry, Mr Grady, but Ms Dearing is very busy at the moment. The storm hasn't just affected the raptor paddock; other areas of the park have been affected too which requires her attention. I'll send someone to look at the accommodation but that's all I can do."

"When?"

"Soon."

"Argh, come on!" He yelled in frustration, only for Zara to hang up on him. He never did like her assistant much, either.

Lindy turned to him, carrying a soaked cardigan in hands. "...What should I do?"

His eye twitched slightly in response to the disheartened expression on her face; it was making him feel bad, too. Owen glanced around the rest of her damp room then jerked his head towards the humvee parked outside. "Stay with me for the time being."

Her eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean...you can't stay here; you'll be sitting in the dark for the entire night. Not to mention it's damp and cold in here. I'll try and get a new room for you to stay in tomorrow."

"What if people say things?"

He shrugged.

"Would it be appropriate? I mean, you're my superior - "

He scoffed. "Really? You're asking someone who tried to ask their boss out if _this_ is 'appropriate'."

"Fair point."

"Lindy. It'll be fine."

"...Alright."

They left the roadside motel/employee accommodation and were on their way to Owen's bungalow. Lindy had salvaged her camera, laptop and a few clean clothes, stuffing them into a bag. Once they arrived, the storm was getting worse and he quickly helped Lindy out of the vehicle then they hurried to the front door. He let her inside, flipping on the switch only for nothing to happen. "Looks like the power's out here too." He muttered; he kicked off his muddy boots and wandered into his lounge, removing his brown waistcoat before tearing his soaked shirt off himself and throwing it carelessly to the floor; Lindy watched wide-eyed as he wandered half-naked before her without a care in the world. Jabbing his thumb behind his shoulder, he said casually, "Make yourself at home. Bathroom's to the left."

Lindy glanced around his house; Owen's bungalow was very cozy indeed. The floor was wood and the walls were a light mahogany. To her left was a small but messy kitchen and to the right was the lounge with a dull and old, sunken russet-colored sofa facing the door with two matching patchwork cushions. A floor lamp stood beside it and a coffee table was stationed in front of it, covered with remote controls, magazines and empty beer bottles and cans. His TV stood on its own in the corner, the screen glossy and blank. An ironing board was propped against the wall as well as a mountain bike and some potted plants that didn't seem to look too well considering their yellowing leaves. She then saw the hallway in the back that only led to two doors facing opposite each other – she assumed they would lead to the bathroom and Owen's bedroom respectively. Clutching her bag tightly to herself, she side-stepped around Owen's discarded shirt on the floor.

"Thanks." She said, making her way past him and towards the small hallway. She opened the door of the bathroom only to see that a mess was waiting for her; his bathroom floor was covered with unfolded, dirty laundry and men's toiletries scattered in all sorts of areas – over the sink, on the windowpane. Considering the state of Owen's home, she wasn't surprised.

She shrugged inwardly and stepped inside without further ado, locking the door. In the main area of the bungalow, he heard the shower running inside the bathroom and he plopped himself on his grubby sofa with a beer in hand which he had nabbed from the fridge. With no electricity, there was no access to his microwave or his TV. All of a sudden he realized how boring and inconvenient it was. He plucked off the cap of his beer and downed a few gulps, staring at the window for a few minutes and watching the rain outside before the taps in the bathroom could be heard squeaking to a close. He then heard the door open and light footsteps approached him; turning round, he stared at her from head to toe as she wandered over to the couch and seated herself down; she was wearing a light gray nightdress with short sleeves that went to mid-thigh, her hair slightly damp and resting over one shoulder.

His mouth fell open somewhat. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... ... ... ..."

"It's your turn." She said, in response to his droning.

He quickly dropped his gaze, coughing lightly into his fist in a somewhat awkward manner before he hastily got up to stand and wandered towards the direction of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He stripped himself out of his muddy clothes, showered quickly, wrapped a clean towel around his waist and went up to his foggy mirror before quickly wiping away the mist. _Goddammit, what the hell is wrong with me._ He thought to himself with a frown as he stared at his reflection; he thought about her exposed legs and the way her hair sat on her shoulder. Then he thought about the time when he held her hand and how tightly she was holding onto him, when Echo had cornered them in the paddock. Had Lindy always had this effect on him?

 _No, I don't think so,_ he thought, _This is...new. Hmm, interesting..._

He inspected himself thoroughly to see a few nicks and grazes on his chin and one particular long cut on the side of his face which he hadn't noticed before; it didn't hurt too much but it stung when he ran his fingertips over it. He went to find a band-aid from his emergency first aid kit only for his brow to crease as he plucked one out and scrutinized the pattern.

 _Barney..._

There didn't seem to be anything else so he unwrapped it carefully and slapped it over the cut, inspecting himself.

 _They really weren't kidding when they said everything here was dinosaur-related._

Owen quickly redressed in a clean t-shirt and shorts and shoved his feet into his pair of flip flops, exiting the bathroom with a towel in hands; he was surprised to see that she had committed herself to sit on the sofa, rifling through an old magazine and once she heard him approaching, she glanced up, noticing the band-aid before quickly averting her gaze to the side.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a graze. Nothing serious." He spotted that she too, had a reddish cut on the side of her neck. It looked sore. "You want something for your that?"

She blinked blankly at him as he gestured to his own neck. "Hm? Oh." It seemed she wasn't even aware of the cut until he had pointed it out, and he returned to the bathroom without waiting for her reply.

"Hang on, I got just what you need..." She could hear him call from over his shoulder. When Owen re-emerged with a Barney band-aid in hand and antiseptic cream, she eyed the two in his hands as he plopped himself down on his sofa. "Stay still." Lindy remained unmoving as he neared her; he dabbed at the graze with his fingertips lathered in pink ointment before pausing, his gaze fixed on her. It dawned to him that they were very close, and he could see how smooth and blemish-free her skin was. Her skin had a pleasing softness to it...Her jaw was also very lithe, her eyelashes long and her lips light pink and delicate-looking...

He swallowed down heavily and quickly stuck the band-aid over her cut, wiping his hands clean. "All done."

She ran her fingertips over the band-aid. "Thanks."

"I uh...I got some leftover meatloaf if you're hungry," He uttered, sauntering to the fridge again and pulling out said meatloaf. Noticing that she hadn't helped herself to anything in his house except from the magazine, he added, "Do you drink?"

She nodded, and he tossed a cool bottle of beer at her direction which she caught it effortlessly. After she thanked him, she flipped off the lid and sipped silently. Owen returned to the couch and sat beside her with the meatloaf, two plates, napkins and two sets of cutlery. He was making more of an effort (since he had a guest), but usually he would just eat anything from its packaging using a fork or even his hands if he was too tired. He settled a plate in front of her before setting out a napkin and the knife and fork, then looked up to see that she was smiling. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Is it the meatloaf?"

"No, I'm good with the meatloaf."

He proceeded to cut out a rather large slice for her, slipping it onto her plate and then one slice onto his own. Just as she picked up her fork, he got up from the sofa and dashed to the kitchen – she watched him curiously – and he rummaged around the cupboard before returning with some thick, chalky-white candles and a lighter. She stared as he pressed down on the lighter and lit some of the candles up, creating a nice, tawny orange glow inside the room that kept the darkness at bay and also made the room a lot warmer. He settled them carefully on the coffee table before them, letting them stand proudly. Once that was done, she glanced around herself, glancing at the dinner, at the candlelight. It all seemed to add up to something.

Turning to Owen, she raised a brow and he grinned. "Pretty neat, huh?" He said.

She laughed, tucking a strand of damp hair behind her ear. "This is nice." She replied, before she lowered her gaze to the beer bottle cradled in her hands.

"Cheers." He held up his beer bottle in hand; she copied his action, lifting it up, and they clinked the bottles together before taking a sip each.

They ate silently although he would occasionally avert his gaze over at her, watching her eat. She ate politely and quietly, which he found interesting to observe since he was far too used to watching Barry or any other employee chomping loudly on burgers and pizzas. When she would look up, he would immediately throw his glance to his meatloaf, or his lap. When she glanced away, he would look at her once more.

The silence and the observing continued until he said, "Are you enjoying it here? Feeling homesick at all?"

"Kinda. I do miss my mom. I'm guessing the people who work here permanently can't get time off to see their families and friends. They must find it even tougher than I do."

"People keep forgetting that they were allowed a choice whether they wanted to work here or anywhere else on this planet."

She pursed her lips in thought, then said, "Is it true that it took you years to form a relationship with the raptors?"

He stopped eating for a second, swallowed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Yeah. I imprinted on them but I worked hard to gain their trust. And now that's gone... with Echo at least."

She slid her gaze glumly to the side, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. We'll need to speak with the park's maintenance workers to suss out what happened to the electricity generator. It can't afford to happen again."

"What about that man called Bates?"

"He's in charge of security at the paddock; he's a good guy but we don't often agree on some stuff."

She nodded to herself. "There are some people out there who are against the park's existence."

He took a messy sip from his beer. "Yeah."

"They say it's not right to bring dinosaurs back to life, and with the Isla Nublar incident, the San Diego incident and Isla Sorna...it's a pretty strong argument. Where do you stand with all this?"

"You're asking a lot of interesting questions, Miss Lindy."

She shrugged. "Just curious about what you think about all this."

He scratched at his chin. "...I was asked to train raptors. Those are my thoughts."

Lindy blinked blankly at him, before he thought he saw her fist clinch slightly. However, as soon as that had happened, her lips spread into a thin smile. "I see. You're passive. If only everyone was like you, Owen. Not a lot of people can do what you do."

"Exactly. Name another Raptor Trainer aside from me. Aha, see? You can't think of another one, because there isn't. It's just me."

She grinned. "Hehe, that's true."

He held his hands up, knife and fork in his clutch. "Whoa, don't get me wrong here. I still love my girls, and alluding to a conversation we had earlier, I don't want them to fall into the wrong hands."

They simmered into another silence; this time, it was neither uncomfortable nor comfortable. Lindy concentrated on eating the meatloaf provided and Owen gulped down some beer. A while later and she muttered, "Thank you for saving my life today."

Owen glanced up and she slowly met his gaze; they stared at each other for what seemed to be a long time, just studying each other intently until...

BZZ BZZ BZZ.

She threw her gaze to her phone which was vibrating. A text message from an unknown number. Lindy quickly swiped the device into her hands, ensuring he could not see. Her eyebrows furrowed as she read the text. It said:

 **I was thinking of visiting the park when the weather gets better.**

Her thoughts ran amok. _What? He's going to actually come to the park? But why?_

"You're lookin' rather intense." Owen remarked, and she quickly looked up to see him staring at her, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, i-it's just my mom... she wanted to see how I was getting on." She replied; there was a slight pang in her gut as she contemplated the lie she had just told, and to Owen nonetheless. "I'm just gonna text her back. I'm...okay...mom...Miss...you...too...L...O...L. Smiley face, X, X, X."

He chuckled as he watched her shove the phone to the side, sipping his beer with a grin.

Trying to pick up where they left off before the text, she said with a smile, "This meatloaf is good by the way. Did you make it?"

"No, actually, it's er...it's from Claire. She made it for me and Zara to try; if it was good, she was going to make some for her nephews if they ever come to the park."

Immediately, her smile dropped. "Oh, right." She murmured, and she emptied another spoonful of meatloaf into her mouth. It was then she remembered something what Barry had told her a while ago, something about Owen and Ms Dearing...

 _Owen's fancied her since day one, but he's too stubborn to admit it..._

Somehow the realization made her rather despondent.

* * *

 **Note:**

So with all the shit Owen goes through I wondered what Lindy should do to thank him for him saving her life earlier on. Should it be A) Thank You card, B) Thank You flowers, C) Box of chocolates, D) handshake or E) One night stand or F) kiss on the cheek. F was in the original version of this chapter since the rest of the options were awful and they were supposed to try and kiss until Lindy's phone went off but I decided to drop that too in the end because I felt it would be too early for any touchy feely stuff for the time being :'(

Also, before Hoskins, there was Bates XD

If you are wondering about the scene and why there are spaces in the part when Owen goes "Uhhhhhhhh' it's to pay homage to Chris Pratt's role in _The Lego Movie_ when his character meets Wyldstyle for the first time. I had to add the spaces due to editing problems here lol


	8. Chapter 8

**THOSE WHO WISH TO DO YOU HARM**

The following morning, the storm had cleared up and the weather was back to normal...back to being muggy, humid and sunny. Owen woke up, sprawled over his sofa with a thin blanket over himself although the heat was now exceptional and the fabric was beginning to make him feel itchy – he shrugged it off himself quickly and let it sink to the floor then looked up and around. The front door was open, his mosquito fly-screen door closed to stop the pesky bugs from coming in. His lounge also appeared a lot cleaner... all his rubbish which he had left lying on his coffee table had disappeared. His floor was no longer covered in thin sheen of dust - instead, his floor was looking rather shiny and bright. There was also a nice smell in the house and he glanced over to see Lindy at the kitchen.

Noticing that he was now awake, she said, "Morning."

"...Mornin'." He grumbled blearily, rubbing at his eyes.

"I made breakfast," She said, "I kinda helped myself...sorry, I hope you don't mind."

"Nah." He stood up, sliding his feet into his flip flops and shuffling over to her whilst scratching at his back. "What're you makin'?"

"I've made pancakes and waffles, I'm waiting for the toast, and I'm about to do the eggs and bacon." She gestured to two plates on one kitchen counter that was neatly stacked with a pile of fluffy and thick pancakes and waffles. Needless to say, he'd never had a breakfast this extravagant. Hell, he didn't even think he had eggs and milk in the fridge but apparently he did. He saw a bowl of pancake batter sitting in the sink along with whisk and other cooking utensils. "Coffee?" She asked, holding up a coffee pot in hand. "Or would you prefer orange juice?"

He chuckled as she held up a carton of juice in her other hand. "I'm good with water."

"I'll get it."

He watched as she went to his sink, grabbed a clean glass from the side and filled it up with tap water. "Thanks." He said as she handed him the glass; he then grabbed a fork and stabbed it into one plate of pancakes and she stared as he ate, inwardly hoping that he liked her cooking, then slid her gaze to the toaster which had pinged, two pieces of crunchy brown bread now popping up into view.

Meanwhile, Claire parked her car outside the messy yard, walked up to the porch and knocked on the door to the bungalow and waited patiently.

A few seconds later, the door opened and Claire had been expecting Owen but she was surprised to see a girl in a gray nightdress standing before her. From within the house, a nice aroma was emitting – eggs and waffles, most likely. Both women stared blankly at each other for a few seconds until...

"Who is it, Lindy?" said a familiar voice from inside the bungalow.

The girl called Lindy threw her glance over her shoulder to the man in the kitchen. "It's – "

Claire smiled at her, "Hi, I'm Claire Dearing, the park's Operations Manager. You must be the intern. Is Mr Grady in?"

"Yes."

"OH SHIT!" The voice proceeded to yell from inside. Footsteps approached and Lindy stepped away from the door; Owen suddenly appeared beside her dressed in his nightwear and flip flops and looking even more unshaven and unkempt than usual.

"Good morning, Mr Grady." Claire said, noticing his bug-eyed expression; he was clearly taken by complete surprise by her sudden appearance outside his home, "Have I come at a bad time?"

Owen was spluttering as Lindy retreated into the bungalow to tend to the eggs cooking in the frying pan. "Claire, it's not what it looks like, I swear. Me and Lindy - " He frantically gestured to the girl in the kitchen, "There was nowhere else she could stay – "

"It's alright, I'm aware of that. And you don't have to explain anything to me. I just wanted to come by to apologize about yesterday. Zara told me everything; I'll try and get the accommodation for your intern set up today."

"Really?"

"Yes." Claire turned to leave; he followed her out of the house and into his dirty yard.

"There's nothing going on between us." He said quickly.

"Owen, whoever you're with is none of my concern – "

He automatically protested, "Claire, you gotta believe me. I'm not that kind of guy. Please."

She stopped in her tracks, turned to him and studied him for a while. "...Alright, fine. I believe you." Then she left his home without further ado, disappearing into her car and steering away from sight.

Owen watched her leave, kicking at a stone in his path. "Dammit!"

Lindy reappeared at the door with a spatula in hand. "Is everything okay?"

He turned to her, nodding weakly. "...Yeah."

Her expression was cloudy. "I should go."

"No, no, it's okay. It's got nothing to do with you. Stay." He said, "Is breakfast ready yet?"

She nodded and he wandered back into the bungalow, closing the door behind him.

* * *

 **A FEW DAYS LATER**

The meeting room was animated with lively conversation; many were discussing the upcoming charity ball whilst others were complaining about why the meeting had been called in the first place since it was very abrupt. However, once Claire arrived, the room fell into silence and she made her way to her laptop and the projector where she quickly had it set up and pressed down on the keyboard. The image projected onto the wall changed from the _Jurassic World_ logo to a blurry, black and white CCTV image that depicted two figures amongst families and kids.

"Thank you for coming in today. I have called you all in for a meeting because I want to bring to your attention an incident that occurred a few days ago - a man and a woman arrived at Jurassic World," She explained, "CCTV cameras picked up the pair at roughly two o'clock in the afternoon. They departed for the ferry at five."

Before her, Owen, Barry and Bates and other park attendants and people of importance sat silently in their seats at the U-shaped table although Owen was sitting slumped in his chair with his arms crossed whilst Barry and Bates seemed more interested in the presentation.

For the past couple of days and they'd been waiting for Lindy's accommodation to be sorted out. Therefore for the time being, Owen had been sleeping on his couch and Lindy stayed in his room. He didn't mind but he was routinely harassed during the night by mosquitoes and other weird noises outside. In order to be a useful guest, Lindy helped him clean up his bungalow. She threw all the trash out, dusted and mopped up the floors, cleaned the kitchen and hoovered the lounge and his room. His tendency to burn things on the stove or cook food drenched in oil also meant all the cooking was left to Lindy...not that he minded (again) since she was a rather gifted chef albeit specializing in a limited amount of fish and meat dishes. He'd come home one day to see her gutting a fish in his kitchen sink. He had watched her do so with a strange fascination.

Claire changed the slide to show a clearer CCTV image. "The couple were seen wandering the park and both individuals were donned in masks that were available for purchase at the harbor that would take tourists to Isla Nublar. For their entire duration in our vicinity, they are never seen taking the masks off. The man wore a T-Rex mask that covered his entire face and the woman wore a Triceratops mask."

Whilst the people in the room exchanged rather curious glances to one another, Owen had other thoughts in mind: _Can't wait to go home...Lindy's making shepherd pie. Mmm, pie..._

"The park's CCTV recorded the pair experiencing various rides and attractions, from the Mosasaurus Feeding Show to T-Rex Kingdom, except from the Cretaceous Cruise. The reason why they were brought to our attention was due to their strange and suspicious behavior. Sixty five per cent of our customers are families, thirty per cent are couples or friends going in groups or twos. Most families would be struggling with their children and couples would be together, but otherwise everyone would be enjoying the park; they would be taking breaks to go for lunch or buying souvenirs. The pair did not participate in any of such activities and simply wandered around. They were not interested in any of the rides or attractions at all."

"Maybe they'd already been at the park before?" asked one employee, "What do you think they want, Ms Dearing?"

She changed the slide yet again to show the CCTV video moving at an incredibly slow rate, showing the pair inside the Gyrosphere. Indeed, both did not seem interested in the sights or dinosaurs at all. Although their features were hidden by the masks, they kept their gazes purely focused at the front. The next slide showed the pair at the T-Rex Kingdom – again, they merely stood behind the glass, watching the gigantic creature for a few minutes or so before they were seen walking off screen.

Some of the audience began to murmur amongst themselves.

She said, "Yes, they could have come to the park before, but the other theory is that they are undercover agents, spies, or activists from rival firms or NGOs, sent to survey the park and to gather data and information. If they return once more, we are to apprehend them. They could even be thieves."

"Thieves?"

"There are those who view and want to use our assets as weapons, or as a means to make a relatively good fortune. In that case, they'll be most interested in the T-Rex and the raptors, our top predators."

Finally, Owen sat up in his seat, watching the projection on the wall; the conversation had finally caught his interest.

Someone raised their hand and asked, "Well then...why come to the park and do this? Do they want to be known?"

Claire contemplated the question, "Perhaps."

"And have we discovered their identities?"

"Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in identifying both persons. However, from eyewitness accounts, the man is described as being roughly 6'1, Caucasian, with dark brown hair. The woman is 5'6, has short blond hair and also Caucasian." Claire grabbed a laser pen and flipped it on, shining the red beam on the masked man shown on the wall. "I'd like everyone to be alert from now on. These people have a motive, and we don't know what it is, so be careful."

...

 **LATER**

Lindy received an update about her room - maintenance workers had come in and out of her roadside motel room; they drained and dried the carpet, fixed the leak in her ceiling, fixed her electricity and then she was given the all-clear to move back in. She was beginning to like her room so was relieved with the good news but it meant she would need to move out of Owen's bungalow after today, which made her a little dejected. At the paddock and Lindy was washing the raptors one by one. She had started with Echo, who could be seen parading around a sectioned-off area of the paddock and enjoying the sun and now she was washing Charlie, using a thick-bristled brush soaked in soapy water to scrub away at the mud and dirt from her body when Bates approached her, sidling up to her with his pockets in hands.

"It's Lindy, right? The intern?" He said.

She stopped scrubbing at Charlie, who hissed as she turned to him with brush in hand. "Mr Bates?"

"Kyle." He said, "You can call me Kyle. I'm head of security here at the paddock. I don't think we've met until that incident."

Bates was a handsome man, with bulging muscles, broad shoulders and chest. His hair was a light brown, short and scruffy, and his eyes, now that they were in broad daylight, were the lightest but most brilliant shade of gray-blue. There was a scar on his left brow, a few grazes on his sturdy jaw. Despite being dressed in the black InGen security uniform consisting of a thin black shirt with short sleeves, black pants and hefty boots, he seemed oblivious to the heat, much like everyone else here.

"How can I help you?" She said, returning to wash Charlie who was now watching her expectantly as she started to rub underneath at her belly; Charlie seemed to enjoy this treatment very much, closing her eyes.

Bates chuckled, adjusting his rifle over his shoulder before he tilted his head to Charlie. "The raptors seem to like you very much. They don't warm up to people that quickly."

"I wouldn't say that. It'll still take some time."

"You're doing a good job; Grady thinks so too."

She turned to him, surprised by the comment, "...Oh, about that time...the storm... I never got a chance to properly thank you."

He grinned widely in response, "Don't sweat it. Listen, if you're not too busy sometime, there's a charity ball coming up soon. Would you be interested in going with me?"

"A charity ball?" Lindy's mouth dropped open to a certain extent, stunned, and she clutched the brush to herself. For some reason, the first thought that occurred in her mind was an image of Owen; she hadn't heard him mentioning about a ball at all. Brushing such thought away, she said, "Sure. That sounds good."

Meanwhile, Owen and Barry stood at the catwalk; they were to inspect the paddock but Owen was staring at the section of the pen where Charlie was currently receiving her bath, his gaze lingering on Lindy and Bates who appeared to be in deep discussion. "What the hell is he doing?" He muttered with much suspicion.

"Owen?" Barry said; following Owen's gaze which landed on Lindy and Bates in the corner, he grinned, "Oh...looks like Bates is making his moves on our Miss Lindy." Whilst Owen scowled slightly, he patted him on the back. "What's the matter, my friend? You look angry."

"It's nothing."

"Come on, Owen, we have bigger things to worry about, like thieves, spies, terrorists..." Barry murmured, "Didn't you hear what Ms Dearing said? We need to be more alert."

"Yeah, I know." He replied, "I know."

"Are you thinking about the charity ball? Lemme guess...you are wanting to ask Ms Dearing?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, she's probably too busy to go. And I hate these kind of things."

Suddenly, they could hear the sound of a vehicle pulling up and both Barry and Owen turned to the source of the noise. It was a small jeep belonging to the Jurassic World mailing department zooming towards them from the horizon, and once it reached the paddock, the vehicle came to a stop and the door opened, revealing the mailing assistant, a middle-aged man dressed in khaki with a jovial disposition.

"G'day, Mr Grady, Mr Barry." said the assistant, whistling as he climbed out of the jeep and slammed the door shut. He tilted his cap at them, adjusting the strap of his bag around his shoulder.

"Mr Abraham." Owen and Barry greeted him politely.

"How'd ya want me to do this? Pigeonhole or deliver 'em whilst I see 'em?"

"Your choice, Abe."

Abraham grinned in response, "Alrighty then. Listen up, folks! I got mail! Yous know the drill; I've only got five minutes, I'm a verrrry busy man!"

Owen turned to the rest of his employees tending to the paddock. "Quick break for five minutes!" He yelled.

A few men whooped, abandoned their duties and went to get their mail; Lindy and Bates stopped discussing and Owen grinned when she left his side to see if she had received anything in the post. Bates merely watched her before heading out of the paddock, not interested in any mail apparently. As the rest of the employees crowded around the mailman, Owen could see Lindy squeezing into the crowd.

"Who's this? A new 'un?" Abraham said, once Lindy managed to breeze her way through.

Owen said, "She's my new intern."

"Yer a lucky dog, Grady. First Ms Dearing, now you got this gal." Turning to Lindy, he shook her hand, "Name's Abraham. These must be for ya. Can't imagine anyone else here called 'Miss Lindy'...unless you count that bloke o'er there in the right, he's a bit o' a weird character, if ya get what I mean." Abraham said with a guffaw.

She merely smiled at him in response. "Thanks."

"Just to let you know that we folks at the mail department hafta open yer mail first and check it before we actually give it to ya. My apologies, but its park policy... security an' all that. Hope ya don't mind."

She nodded in acknowledgement and left the crowded Abraham with three envelopes in hand, stuffing them into her rucksack which she grabbed from the bench where she had left it before she made her way to the office. Glancing around, she wandered up to her locker and made sure there was no-one around and that there was no CCTV but she could not see any in the office.

Inspecting the letters, she realized that they had indeed been already opened, inspected and resealed. She opened one to see that it was a letter from the University. The second was a letter from her mother. The third, she knew who it was from, but after Abraham mentioning that the Jurassic World employees actually checked the incoming mail first before distributing made her a little uneasy. Opening the third envelope, she found a thin magazine advertising a store selling various photography equipment somewhere back in her hometown. She rifled through the magazine but found nothing of interest.

 _That can't be right_ , she thought. She searched the envelope for a final time but still could not find anything. _This is unlike him..._

Inspecting the envelope from front and back, she could not see anything out of the ordinary until she spotted a slight bump underneath the stamp affixed on front. She would've missed it if she hadn't taken so long inspecting the envelope. Her eyebrows furrowing, she slowly peeled the stamp backwards to reveal a tiny minuscule chip as thin as the stamp itself cleverly concealed within.

As if on cue, her cell sounded off, vibrating in her pocket. She scooped it out and checked the text: **Did you find it?**

She texted _Yes_.

The cell rang again after a brief moment. It said: **Then you know what to do.**

* * *

 **Note:**

This is what happens when I watch Pretty Little Liars lol. I forgot to also mention that the title of this story is from Gary Jules' song Mad World. Don't own the song but I thought it really fitted the premise of this fic. I also don't think I will have the chance to update for some time after this one chapter because I'm due to start a job and I also have my Metal Gear fic soooo yeah :(


	9. Chapter 9

**12/07/15.** Yeesh so I haven't gone to this story for a long time. Sorry :( I wonder if the Jurassic World hype has died down yet? I was actually hit with writer's block for a while, then I started my new job and omg it's been hectic, and I'm currently concentrating on 2 more stories. Yikes I am a busy bee indeed!

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **TROUBLE AFOOT**

"Well, this is it." Lindy said.

Owen nodded. "...It was due to happen some day."

Both turned to each other respectively, although Lindy kept her glance to the ground awkwardly. "Thanks for allowing me to stay with you for that time."

"I'll miss the pie." He commented, and she chuckled, finally meeting his gaze.

It was time for Lindy to move back into her accommodation now that it had been fixed and everything should be back to normal. She had to admit that she would miss staying with Owen although it was for a brief period of time. She guessed she missed having someone to talk to after work hours (even if Owen was technically her boss), since she would just return to her room after work and sit in silence, either watching movies or any other program on TV. She stood with her bag slung over her shoulder filled with her clothes and amenities and Owen reached forwards with his hand outstretched. Unsure of what he was trying to do, she assumed it was a friendly handshake and reached forwards only for his fist to bump against her fingers.

"Oops."

"Sorry, I thought – "

"No, it's okay. We can shake hands."

Their hands found each other clumsily and they proceeded to shake loosely before letting go. Her hand was so tiny and warm compared to his.

"It's been real." He added.

She smiled dryly at him. "Same here."

"See you at work."

"See ya." She replied, and Owen sidled towards the direction of his motorbike with his hands in his pockets. Lindy watched his retreating back, then quickly said, "Owen, wait."

He turned to see her jogging up to him, stopping by his side. "What is it?"

"Thank you," She said, "For everything."

Then she quickly stood on her tiptoe, kissed him on the cheek briefly and rushed away.

* * *

 **MEMORANDUM**

 **To:** Claire Dearing

 **From:** Simon Masrani

 **Subject:** Breach of Security

Dear Claire,

It's been brought to my attention that the park has been under scrutiny lately, and that we have also suffered a breach of security by an intruder the other day. I was informed that the perpetrator hacked into confidential information contained within the lab and stole roughly a gigabyte of data about our assets. The source was unable to be traced due to being used on a ghost device but the security officer on duty that night said he saw someone inside the lab and shouted at them. The intruder attempted to escape but the Officer drew his weapon and managed to injure the intruder, specifically in the right calf. The intruder still succeeded in escaping and we have been compromised.

We've toughened our security measures, but I'd like to know this happened in the first place and how you will prevent this from happening again in the future?

Many thanks,

Simon

* * *

 **A FEW DAYS LATER**

It was different without Lindy around in the house.

No-one was there to make fresh pie or wash the dishes or his clothes. It wasn't that he liked having her around for helping him with the basic, menial housekeeping, but he missed her presence. He missed having her around. He'd lived on his own in the little bungalow for some time and suddenly having a roommate made things a little exciting. She even left her scent all over his pillow.

Owen would be training Echo on a one to one basis when he would automatically rub at his cheek where she had kissed him. He had been doing that unconsciously for some time now and occasionally he would catch himself doing it. Unsure of what to think of it, he carried on as usual with little regard. Moments later, Lindy arrived at the paddock, looking a little paler than usual but nothing out of the ordinary, except she had traded her shorts for a pair of thin leggings and she appeared to be dragging one foot after the other. He left the raptor on her own to happily devour a rat and left the catwalk to greet her.

"Hey," He said, and she stopped in her tracks to smile up at him warmly.

"Hey." She replied.

"You alright?"

She nodded. "Just a bit tired; I didn't sleep very well last night. My new bed isn't very comfy."

"I know, my bungalow must seem like a five star hotel." He said with a grin, and Lindy chuckled in response and he gestured for her to walk with him. "C'mon, I'll go over today's tasks. We'll go to the office to talk."

"Great."

They passed the raptor den where they could see Bates seated on a bench with his boots off, tending to his foot which was wrapped up tightly in bandages.

"Bates? What happened to you?" Owen asked, as they walked past.

Bates glanced up in response, "Oh, this? It's an injury from a training exercise." He replied, "It's nothing."

Owen and Lindy left him to his own devices, although when she threw a glance over her shoulder, she met Bates' gaze; he was gazing at her with a steady glint in his eye. Swallowing down, she quickly turned away, focusing on her front. Owen led her into the office where she sat herself down in front of him. He proceeded to go over the recent reports and the raptor's progress.

Lindy couldn't find herself concentrating.

" – Ball."

She looked up, having missed the entire conversation. "Sorry?"

"The ball, Lindy. Are you going?" Owen asked. He had an eyebrow raised, noticing how distant she appeared. "...You okay? You look like you got a lot on your mind. Did something happen?"

"Oh. Um, no, I'm fine." She replied, "And er, yeah, I'm going to the charity ball. Mr Bates asked me."

He inwardly drew in a hiss of discontent as he winced, "Bates? Really? Him?"

She nodded. "He asked me the other day."

It must've been when Owen spotted them chatting to each other when she was bathing the raptors. Man, had Bates gone in for the kill already? Somehow the fact made him a little dejected.

"Are you going?" Lindy asked, and he tensed up slightly.

"Er..." He rubbed the back of his head, throwing his glance to his papers that were strewn in front of him on his desk. "I dunno."

"You should ask Ms Dearing." She pointed out.

"Yeah." He grunted; for some reason, he was entertained with the idea of asking Claire, but why was the fact that Lindy was going with Bates beginning to get on his nerves too? Maybe he had become rather protective of her. After all, she _was_ his intern.

They continued to go over their work and writing down notes about the raptor's progression although he would always sneak glances at her and look at how serious she was whilst working until suddenly, the door to the office opened and speaking of the devil, there stood Barry and Claire.

"Owen, Miss Lindy, I'm so sorry to disturb you both; Ms Dearing needs to talk to you." Barry said, and Owen hastily rose from his seat as Claire stepped in; as usual, she looked very elegant with her white shirt and skirt and heels, although this time, she appeared a little distressed.

"Can we talk outside please?" Claire asked, averting her glance from Lindy, to Owen, who nodded.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I'll tell you once we're out."

"That important, huh?"

She gave him a tired look in response and Lindy and Barry watched as they exited the office. Once outside, Claire glanced around them as though double checking that they were truly alone, then crossed her arms, turning to him. "Have you heard?"

"About what?"

"There was an intruder a couple of days ago."

"You mean the couple who went to the park? You called us in for a meeting about that."

She shook her head. "No, this is something else. Something new, but possibly related."

Noticing how agitated she appeared, he nodded, "Alright. Lay it on me."

Quietly, she said, "They stole information from the lab, Mr Grady. Data. We're investigating. Don't tell anyone about this; not many people know about this, only myself, Mr Masrani and the board."

"So there really are thieves in the park?"

She nodded. "Yes. We're trying to find out."

"Uh...so it's just you, Masrani and some really senior people who know about this...so why are you telling me?"

With a gentle sigh, she said, "...I trust you. Out of all employees in this park, you're very dedicated to your work. I know how much the park and the raptors mean to you as much as the park means to me. So please keep an eye out for me, for any strange behavior or-or..." As she left her sentence trailing, she put her hands on her hips, glancing to the side whilst shaking her head.

He tilted his head at her, "Claire...are you alright?"

"Yes, of course I am, Mr Grady." She snapped abruptly, but he thought otherwise. She must be stressed out of her mind despite her calm composure.

"I bet Masrani's breathing fire down your neck to find the perp."

"Yes, he is. But please, whatever you do, do not tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed." He replied, "I bet that date's looking really inviting now. You should take some time off to relax and stuff. I can help you with that."

Frustrated, her eyes narrowed at him as his lips spread into a thin grin. "I can't believe you! You have really bad timing, you know that?"

He shrugged, still smiling lightly.

Claire huffed, planting her hands on her hips once more. "Oh, fine _. Fine._ I'm free this Friday evening. Let's...I don't know, go out for a meal. Have a drink."

Owen's grin widened. "Sounds good to me."

...


	10. Chapter 10

**31/07/2015.**

Ohhhhhh here it is you guyssss... My interpretation of Owen's first date with Claire. YIKES! Let's see how this goes, eh? It's probably completely wrong and btw I am NOT showing Claire as a rude or ignorant person here, but rather she has commitments and is busy like heck so this is why things like this happen. Also I cannot remember for the love of god what exactly happened on their first date so I just made some stuff up.

PS if there are mistakes so sorry i typed this up really quickly and was sooo excited to post it up!

Just to let you know I've been on a first date with a guy who wore jogging pants, a sweatstained hoodie and took me to McDonalds.

* * *

 **THE BAD DATE**

It was the night of the highly anticipated date with Claire.

The day seemed to fly past; he did his training with the raptors, working on them on a one to one basis whilst Lindy could be seen tottering around after Barry, Owen switched on his music player and tunes hailing from the 70's began blaring within his bungalow. He was in such a good mood he kept his front door open as he leapt into the shower, lip syncing whilst holding the shower head, staring at his reflection in the foggy mirror. He washed his hair, trimmed some hairs from his chin, slapped some aftershave and then flossed his teeth. Now this would be his usual routine in terms of getting up in the morning; he didn't really see a difference to his usual regime. Claire would have to make do with it; it wasn't all about the looks, right?

He got dressed in a clean shirt and boardshorts. The place he had in mind was casual so no need to overdo the attire. plus on Fridays they did the Hawaiian night so he would totally blend in with the rest of the customers who would be dining there. He checked his wallet to see he had enough to cover a meal for two and some drinks and when satisfied, left the sanctity of his home and climbed onto his motorbike.

Claire said she would meet him at the restaurant; he didn't mind, he guessed, although he always thought it was more polite for the guy to pick up the chick. Oh well. He drove the bike all the way to Main Street where it was filled to the brim with tourists and other employees alike all dressed down and enjoying the Friday evening. The weather was simply fantastic – the sky was a spray of orange and red and the sun could be seen setting over the horizon and casting a glittering glow on the lagoon of the Mosasaurus.

He spotted Claire at the sidewalk where they agreed to meet and once he parked the bike and strode up to her, she looked at him from head toe. She was wearing a beautiful black cocktail dress and was clutching a matching small black purse.

"Boardshorts?!" She exclaimed.

"What?" He said, holding his arms out.

Claire put a hand to her face, glancing to the side. "...This is a _date_ , Mr Grady."

"Yeah, so?" He added.

She bit her lip, now throwing her gaze to her patent heels. Claire had indeed dressed up for him. He stood in his shirt and boardshorts, not really understanding what the problem was.

"We're going for burgers. It's bound to get messy - "

"Burgers?"

"Yeah."

Her eyes seemed to have bulged in her sockets. "I thought we were..." Her eyes then strayed to the opposite end of the sidewalk, where the most prestigious restaurants of Jurassic World stood in their glory, with dozens of well-dressed patrons chatting amiably with one another whilst waiting on a red carpet to be welcomed in by the equally well-dressed VIP bouncer.

Owen followed her gaze. "You thought we were going to _Le Meurice_? It costs $300 to eat there." He pointed out before he began marching towards the burger joint, "By the way, you should be careful when we eat; you might ruin your dress."

Her eyebrow rose in astonishment, but then her brow creased and Claire held both arms up in defeat. "...Fine, whatever, we're here anyway. Let's go."

"Alright."

He led her into the establishment. It was already off to a rocky start.

The queue was long and their wait for the table for two would've taken ninety minutes if Claire wasn't the Park's Operations Manager. Despite her status, Claire said they would still pay for the bill. They found themselves seated within ten minutes and menus were presented to them. Claire glanced around; she was too overdressed for the occasion and she was worried about her clutch. She didn't want to put it on the floor so kept it on her lap, balancing it on her knees although it would keep slipping off due to the slippery material of her dress and bag alike.

Owen ordered the restaurant's special burger, a beer and an extra helping of cheesy fries. Claire ordered something that would be non-messy and would need a fork. She ended up choosing a salad.

"Salad?" He questioned.

"Yes, I'm on a diet." She replied.

"You? On a diet?"

"Yes, is that so hard to believe?"

"You don't need to go on one." He retorted.

"Well, I still want to eat a little healthier." was her response.

"Okay, so what drink are you having? Heard you like your tequila."

"No, my diet doesn't allow tequila."

"What? What kind of diet doesn't allow tequila?"

"The purpose of a diet, Mr Grady, is to cut out certain beverages and foods. Tequila is one of them."

"That's terrible." He said, chuckling.

Turning to the waiter, she said, "I'll have water, thanks." Closing the menu, she gave him a smile and handed it to him.

Now it was the time to wait for the food. It was filled with silence even though several attempts to strike up conversation were made. He kept thinking about his girls, Blue, Charlie, Echo and Delta and sometimes Lindy and Barry would pop up in conversation too. Claire would mention Zara and Simon Masrani. They could occasionally relate to the pressures of work and they would talk about the raptors. Claire asked how Lindy was getting on and he mentioned 'good'. She was progressing very quickly and the raptors were warming up to her little by little. There was no mention of the thieves or the strange people who came to the park. Claire also kept looking at her phone as it rang constantly, flashing or vibrating as she received phonecalls, text messages alike.

"So as I was saying..." Owen started, having been interrupted for the fifth time, and then –

 **RING RING RING.**

"...Is that your phone again?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

The phone blared angrily. **RING RING RING.**

She emitted a gentle sigh. "Excuse me, Mr Grady. I need to take this call." Returning to her phone, she swiped the screen, placing it against her ear. "Hello, you've reached Claire Dearing. How can I help? Ah, yes, Mr Campbell, was it?"

Owen took a sip from his beer, twiddling with his fork in hand, glancing around the rest of the restaurant. Outside the window, he saw Bates limping along the sidewalk with...Lindy? He sat up slightly in his seat in disbelief.

 _What the hell?!_

Indeed, there was his intern with Mr Bates; she was holding a brown grocery bag in arms whilst Bates carried two bulging bags in each hand. They appeared to be in conversation, grinning and smiling at each other. He watched the pair pass the restaurant window with a strange feeling settling within the pit of his stomach. He remembered the last time something like this had happened – Lindy was getting the ingredients for pie and he went with her to the shops. They then went back to the bungalow where he would watch her make the pie; a fun and intriguing process since he'd never had homemade pie before, just stuff from the supermarkets.

The fact that Bates had probably taken his place at this point made him uneasy. Both were dressed in casual wear – Bates was in a t-shirt and boardshorts – just like how he looked this evening. And Lindy...well, Owen had never seen her wearing a _dress_ before. She was donned in a sundress with thin straps. His eyebrow quirked up as they walked past – he didn't think they'd seen him since they weren't at a window seat. For some reason, he felt glad.

"Mr Grady?"

He glanced away, to Claire. "Huh?"

"The food." Claire said, and he saw his plate being settled in front of him.

"Oh right." He grunted; somehow his appetite seemed to have vanished.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, let's uh...let's eat." Grabbing his burger with his hands, Owen bit into it with little care whilst Claire picked and prodded at her salad carefully with the fork provided, having finally put away her phone.

Once they'd finished their meal, he was less than full. In fact, it didn't appear as though he had a whole burger, fries and beer. He was still hungry for some reason. "Want any dessert?" He asked.

"No thanks." She replied, not that he was surprised by her response.

He sat backwards in his seat, stretching somewhat. His mind was preoccupied with what he'd seen a while ago. What was Bates and Lindy doing? He just had to know! He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He was on a date with Claire! His attention should be purely focused on her, right? "Yeah, so just the other day I was – "

 **RING RING RING.**

Claire glanced at her phone once more where the screen was flashing brightly. Simon Masrani was calling. This time, she appeared apologetic. "...Sorry, Mr Grady, but I really need to take this phonecall."

"Seriously? He couldn't even leave you alone, for one night?" He moaned.

"My working hours aren't restricted to nine to five." She quipped, lifting her phone and placing it to her ear. She rose from her seat, having to escape from the noisy atmosphere of the restaurant. He watched her wander to a quiet corner and lifted his fourth or fifth beer (he couldn't really remember), drinking another sip. He admitted he'd had quite a lot to drink tonight so was feeling a little more different than usual.

Once Claire returned, she said, "Where were we?"

He shrugged, drinking his sixth beer, "...Gettin' the bill I suppose."

She seemed surprised. "Oh, right. The night's flown past, hasn't it?"

He nodded in response. _Yeah...flown by with you looking at text messages and phonecalls..._ "Wanna go for a drink?"

"I told you, Mr Grady, I'm off the tequila."

"Then have somethin' else."

"How many beers have you had?"

"I dunno, lost count..."

"I think you're drunk, Mr Grady."

"Am not, I can hold my drink."

"Really?" She crossed her arms, frowning.

"Yeah. And I can have tequila, unlike you. I can have as much as I want."

Unimpressed, she checked the time on her phone. "It's getting late. I should head back."

Had time really flown by that much? It hardly felt that way. He sat up in his seat, feeling rather tipsy. "Alright, fine with me..." He paid the bill, slamming down dollars into the waiter's hand and they left the vicinity.

"Well, Mr Grady. I...had a nice time. Thank you for the nice evening."

"Didn't feel like we did much. We hardly spoke to each other."

"I can't help it, Mr Grady. I'm a busy woman."

"I get it. You're just too...busy, and I get it. It's fine."

"Mr Grady, I – "

"It's okay, Claire, just go back to being the Park's Operation Manager. You're doing a really good job."

Again, Claire's eyebrow rose. "...Go and have some rest, Mr Grady. I'll see you on Monday."

She would disappear somewhere and Owen had no idea when she left or how. His mind was in shambles. Instead, he found himself hogging one entire bench to himself near the lagoon drinking two more beers. It was dark; the sun had gone and the moon was high with twinkling stars in the night sky. The Jurassic World flame torches lit up, along with some lampposts lining the sidewalk. It was quiet although he could hear the distant chatter and lively music from the bars and clubs nearby.

He was tempted to go there and sit at the counter but he didn't feel like it. He certainly didn't feel like going home. It was not even midnight yet.

"Owen?"

He looked up at the sound of the voice, only to see Lindy standing to his left a distance away with a bag in hand; he could see a bottle of sparkling water and a cup noodle sticking out. Late night shopping, perhaps.

"...Lindy?" He grunted out in exasperation, "What're you...doin' here? Where's Bates?"

She rose an eyebrow. "Huh? Kyle?"

He growled. "Now you're callin' him by his first name too."

"...What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You don't look so good." She muttered. He heard her approach, her feet hitting the numerous empty bottles littering the ground surrounding him. "Owen, you've drank quite a lot." She added, as he glanced away from her.

"Yeah."

When it went silent, he turned to see that she was kneeling down beside him. "...How was your date with Ms Dearing?"

Owen groaned loudly. "Urghhh...what? How could you know about that?"

"Barry told me."

He let out another long groan in response.

"Are you here by yourself?" Lindy asked, "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"

"...How I'm...feeling?" He began tiredly as he rethought about the date, staring at the dark sea before them, "...You know how...when you really want something badly, when you've been admiring something for a long time...or when you really look forward to something only to be disappointed...or for everything to blow up in your face..."

She nodded briefly.

"That's how I feel right now."

Lindy nodded again, glancing away to the side awkwardly. She wasn't sure what to say to that. Had the date gone so terribly?

"I want to be alone." He suddenly mumbled.

"I understand." She made a move to leave and rose, turning away from him.

"I said I want to be alone." He said, a little louder, and Lindy stopped in her tracks, glancing at him in confusion. Owen looked at her; when their eyes met he then hurriedly broke eye contact, swallowing down somewhat. He seemed to have sobered up slightly. "You're...wearing a dress." He croaked out.

"Huh?" Now she really was puzzled by his words. Seeing her boss drunk was a bizarre sight to behold.

"Never mind." He croaked out, and then -

 **RING RING RING.**

Lindy glanced at her pocket where her phone could be seen flashing, indicating a call.

"...Aren't you gonna get that?" He asked, gesturing drunkenly to her phone as she checked the screen.

She shook her head as she returned the phone to her pocket. "It can wait."

"Might be important."

And she shrugged. "Not really." With that, she watched as he emitted a choked noise from the back of his throat as she returned to his side, kneeling beside him again, the phone forgotten. His mouth was dry; the beer did nothing but make him hungry and dizzy and when his stomach gurgled, Lindy blinked twice, wide eyed before she proceeded let out a helpless chuckle. "...Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. That burger didn't do anything. Didn't feel right. Don't know what. I actually really want some pie." He admitted.

She chuckled again. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so...do you want to head back? Or are you going to sit here a bit longer?"

"Nah, I'm beat. Let's go. My bike's parked over there."

"You can't drive, you're drunk."

"Then you drive. You can drive, right?"

"Yes, I can drive."

"Damn, you shoulda told me earlier. And I've been drivin' you around all this time."

"You never asked." Lindy replied with a smile; reaching for him, she hauled him off the bench and looped his arm around her shoulder. "Come on, up you go. You need some rest."

"That's what she said too." He muttered, narrowing his eyes at her.

She couldn't believe the highlight of this conversation was _pie_. "I'll make you some pie, but you need rest." Lindy said, helping off the bench. His legs were weak and his weight was rather overbearing for her, but she managed to get him off the bench and they wobbled on the sidewalk. She could smell the intense amount of beer off him and as she adjusted her hold on his arm, he buried his face into her nape, closing his eyes.

Lindy stiffened at once. "...Owen?" She squeaked out.

"Lindy. You'll never be too busy, right?"

"Uh...well, no, I guess not." She replied, and he simmered into a silence and she thought he was asleep but then...

"She wasn't you," He mumbled under his breath, "She wasn't you."


End file.
